Full text of "Modern Drummer Issue 122"

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Plus: • New Pedals

• Ageless Rock Beats

• On The Soundstage
With Emil Richards

• Photo Gallery Debut

The High-Quality Tradition of Ludwig Snares.

To be the best drummer you can be. you need the best possible drums.
That’s why so many Lop drummers choose Ludwig snares. Ludwig snares
are quality-crafted to give drummers the strength and versatility they
need, with the sound they demand. Ludwig’s newly
designed piccolo snare follows that same tradition.

The High-Knd Pop of a Piccolo Snare.

Built to the original 3"x 13" size pioneered by Ludwig,
the new piccolo adds a crisp, high sound to your music. It
makes a great jazz/fusion and concert drum, and a great
auxiliary drum for rock and studio work. Whatever music
you play, you'll appreciate the strength of the redesigned
high-tension lugs, the heavy-gauge batter and snare hoops,
and the dependable new snare strainer with lever throw-
off action.

New Ludwig pices come in brighter-sounding bronze shells,
or in Classic 6-Ply Maple for drummers who prefer a warmer.

richer tone.

\sk to see them both at your local Ludwig dealer.

\ Sc I nut Company * l*U Ko\ BIO * Llkharl IN Hklir*

Hbu con fee/ it,

smooth , fast , powerful feel of Drum
Workshop s 5000 Turbo Bass Drum Pedal. A feeling
that comes from DW's patented Chain & Sprocket
system. The multi-tooth sprocket and chain design
aflows the footboard and beater to move back and
forth in constant unison; keeping the pedal in perfect
ba/ance and keeping the beat feeling great.

Made in the USA and backed by a 5 year
limited warranty the Turbo Pedal features an
exclusive super-smooth Turbo rocker hub
and bearing assembly as well as the
increased strength and stability of DWs
original one-piece pedal plate.

There's a complete list of available
options and accessories - from solid

and split footboards to toe-stops and twin springs -
so you can customize your pedal to get the exact
feel you want and, for precise, dynamic triggering of
electronic sounds from your acoustic bass drum, DW
even offers a recently updated version of their Turbo
"E" bass drum/trigger pedol (inset) with a wider
dynamic range and stronger signal output

But the bottom line is this : you can't copy a
feeling. IPs a simple fact that no other
bass drum pedal feels as good as a DW Turbo.
That's why so many of today's fop players play
it. And , no matter what kind of feel you
play - swing , funk, latin or rock,
that's why you should be playing
a Turbo, too.

DW 5000 TURBO
BASS DRUM PEDAL

Shown above* 5000 Turbo Boss Drum Pedol.
Also a variable 5000CX and 5000N.

For a copy of our new, full-color catalog send $3 for postage and handling along with your name and address to:

Drum Workshop, fnc, • 2697 La very Court, Unit 16 * Newbury Park, CA 91320

Cover Photo by Leslie Burke

difiWiirre.-

era

A long stint with Frank Zappa has given Ed Mann the
opportunity to improvise and experiment with percussion
in a multitude of ways. Here, Ed shares some of what he
has learned along the way, and discusses his first solo
album, his work with the Repercussion Unit, and the
role of the percussionist and of electronics in music.

by Rick Mattingly

ED MANN

STEVE RILEY

One might not expect the drummer from such bands
as Keel, WASP, and L.A. Guns to consider jazz his real
passion, but that's just one of the ironies of Steve Riley.

In this interview, Steve also talks about some of the highs
and lows of the music business he has encountered, and
the lessons he has learned from them.

by Robyn Flans

As one of the more sought-after big band drummers in
New York, Alvin Stoller worked with, among others, the
bands of Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, and Charlie
Spivak. In the 40 years since he moved out west, Stoller
has backed up singers and movie stars like Ella Fitzgerald,
Billie Holiday, Gene Kelly, and Fred Astaire, and has done
endless TV, radio, and movie scores. Here Stoller reflects
on his career and talks about the music business he is still
very much a part of.

by Burt Korall

MD SOUND SUPPLEMENT

ED MANN FEATURING

CHAD WACKERMAN

Notes and transcribed examples of Ed Mann's and Chad
Wackerman's parts from "This Is Tomorrow," from Mann's
solo album Get Up.

VOLUME 14, NUMBER 1

UAIJk'

ld.HWJ.JMJI

ROCK 'N' JAZZ
CLINIC

Double Strokes, Triple
Strokes, Accents, and

More _

by Rod Morgenstein

CONCEPTS

Frustration

by Roy Bums

ROCK

PERSPECTIVES

The Ageless Beats Of

Rock 'N' Roll _

by Kenny Aronoff

I35TITT3J!T3Jn

PRODUCT

CLOSE-UP

The Black Max Pedal
by Rick Van Horn

The Vruk

by Bob Saydlowski, Jr.

The Upbeat Pedal

by Rick Van Horn

ELECTRONIC

REVIEW

Different Drummer
by Norman Weinberg

ROCK CHARTS

Phil Jones: "Runnin'
Down A Dream"

Transcribed by
William F. Miller

SHOP TALK

Drums: An Engineering

Analysis: Part 2 _

by Spiros A. Psarris

KT7ST31V3S

UP&COMING

Billy Goodness
by Michael Lee Briggs

EDITOR'S

OVERVIEW

UPDATE

INDUSTRY

HAPPENINGS

READERS'

PLATFORM

8 ASK A PRO

ITS

QUESTIONABLE

DRUMLINE

106

TRACKING

'Tis The Season Of The

Sequel _

by Emil Richards

NEW AND
NOTABLE

ON TAPE

DRUM MARKET

108

PHOTO GALLERY

112

^DITOR'S

^Werview

The Classifieds

Classified advertising has been a part of Modern Drummer since
our very first year of publication. Drum Market is the place in the
magazine where one can quickly locate everything from used
gear, vintage equipment, and study materials, to a drum teacher or
even a gig.

Interestingly, Drum Market is one of the most well-read sections
of the magazine each month. Readers are usually invited to call or
write for further information, or to send a nominal fee fora catalog
or brochure. Drum Market is also appealing in that it tends to
encompass the lower end of the cost spectrum for the budget¬
conscious buyer.

Occasionally, small problems will arise with classifieds, as they
do for most widely circulated international publications that choose
to publish them. Because Drum Market is made up of a substantial
amount of smaller ads that generally arrive close to each month's
deadline, it's virtually impossible for us to screen them all. In most
cases we must assume that the advertiser is making an honest offer
and will do well by his customer. Unfortunately, very few national
magazines and newspapers have the time or manpower to screen
classifieds, and readers should be aware of this.

However, I think it's important to mention that considering the
thousands of ads that have appeared in Drum Market over the
years, we've had a remarkably small percentage of complaints. I
think it's safe to say that the overwhelming majority of Drum
Market advertisers are sincere drum industry people, anxious to
meet their obligation to readers.

Of course, every industry has that small group who never seem
to fit into that description. And on occasion, one bad apple can get
in among the good ones and cast a bad reflection on the rest. Most
mail-order advertisers are aware that failing to be totally upright
with their customers comes under the heading of mail fraud—a
pretty serious federal Offense. Those who are not aware of it are
quickly enlightened. Still, some people just love to test the limits of
the law. Obviously, when that occurs, it's our full responsibility to
weed them out of the magazine.

Should you ever have a legitimate complaint with a classified
advertiser, please don't hesitate to contact our Advertising
Department at once. A complaint can range from not receiving the
merchandise you paid for to being fed misleading information
through false advertising. Be sure to supply us with the advertiser's
name and address, the issue in which the ad appeared, the items
ordered and the date you ordered them, and copies of all cancelled
checks or correspondence. This information will enable us to go to
bat for you in the most efficient manner possible.

Again, I do want to stress that we've had an extremely limited
number of problems with Drum Market advertisers in 14 years of
publishing MD —probably less than 1%. Personally, I think that
alone says something pretty good about the integrity of our industry
as a whole. Nonetheless, we certainly want to be advised of any
problems if and when they do arise.

EDITOR/PUBLISHER

Ronald Spagnardi

ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER

Isabel Spagnardi

SENIOR EDITOR

Rick Mattingly

MANAGING EDITOR

Rick Van Horn

ASSOCIATE EDITORS
William F. Miller
Adam Budofsky

EDITORIAL ASSISTANT

Cynthia Huang

ART DIRECTOR

Terry Kennedy

ASSISTANT ART DIRECTOR

Scott G. Bienstock

ADMINISTRATIVE MANAGER

Tracy Kearney

ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT

Joan C. Stickel

ADVERTISING DIRECTOR

Bob Berenson

DEALER SERVICE MANAGER

Crystal W. Van Horn

MAILROOM SUPERVISOR

Leo Spagnardi

CONSULTANT
TO THE PUBLISHER

Arnold E. Abramson

MODERN DRUMMER
ADVISORY BOARD

Henry Adler, Kenny Aronoff,

Louie Bellson, Bill Bruford, Roy
Burns, Jim Chapin, Alan Dawson,
Dennis DeLucia, Les DeMerle,

Len DiMuzio, Charlie Donnelly,
Peter Erskine, Vic Firth, Danny
Gottlieb, Sonny Igoe, Jim Keltner,
Mel Lewis, Larrie Londin, Peter
Magadini, George Marsh, Joe
Morello, Andy Newmark, Neil
Peart, Charlie Perry, Dave Samuels,
John Santos, Ed Shaughnessy, Steve
Smith, Ed Thigpen.

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Susan Alexander, Robyn Flans,
Simon Goodwin, Karen Ervin
Pershing, Jeff Potter, Teri Saccone,
Robert Santelli, Robin Tolleson,
Lauren Vogel, T. Bruce Wittet.

MODERN DRUMMER Magazine

(ISSN 0194-4533) is published
monthly with an additional issue
in July by MODERN DRUMMER
Publications, Inc., 870 Pompton
Avenue, Cedar Grove, NJ 07009.
Second-Class Postage paid at
Cedar Grove, NJ 07009 and at
additional mailing offices. Copy¬
right 1990 by Modern Drummer
Publications, Inc. All rights
reserved. Reproduction without the
permission of the publisher is
prohibited.

EDITORIAL/ADVERTISING/
ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICES:

Modern Drummer Publications,

870 Pompton Avenue, Cedar
Grove, NJ 07009.

MANUSCRIPTS: Modern Drummer
welcomes manuscripts, however,
cannot assume responsibility for
them. Manuscripts must be accom¬
panied by a self-addressed,
stamped envelope.

MUSIC DEALERS: Modern Drum¬
mer is available for resale at bulk
rates. Direct correspondence to
Modern Drummer, Dealer Service,
870 Pompton Ave., Cedar Grove,
NJ 07009. Tel: 800-522-DRUM or
201-239-4140.

SUBSCRIPTIONS: $25.95 per year; $46.95, two years.

Single copies $2.95.

SUBSCRIPTION CORRESPONDENCE: Modern Drummer, P.O. Box
480, Mount Morris, IL 61054-0480. Change of address: Allow at least
six weeks for a change. Please provide both old and new address. Toll
Free Phone: 1-800-435-0715.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Modern Drummer, P.O. Box
480. Mt. Morris. IL 61054.

A Member Of:

APA

Magazine Publishers of America

ISSUE DATE: January 1990

MODERN DRUMMER

READERS’ PLATFORM

JACK DeJOHNETTE

Rick Mattingly's interview with Jack
DeJohnette in your October issue was
complete, incisive, and well-written. Jack's
comments were illuminating and entertain¬
ing. What more could be asked of a maga¬
zine cover story? Thanks for the excellent
article.

Chuck Gilspeth
Baltimore MD

Except for his name in a couple of ads, I'd
never heard of Jack DeJohnette. I have never
heard him play. I'm a hard-rock drummer,
and jazz drummers have never interested
me. But DeJohnette's comments seemed to
cover a lot of ground; he seems pretty open
to a lot of things. Every so often one of your
stories reminds me that drummers outside
of rock have something to say—musically
or verbally—that might be useful to me,
too. Thanks for the info on Jack; I just might
check him out.

Billy Baducah
Tyler TX

RICHARD BAILEY

I've been waiting to read about Richard
Bailey for many years, since I heard him
play on Beck's Blow By Blow. I have to say
that it seems a bit of a musical comedown
that he's now playing for the likes of Billy
Ocean, but I suppose a gig is a gig for any
of us. Anyway, thanks very much for the
article. I really enjoyed getting all the back¬
ground on Richard and his ethnic influ¬
ences.

John Filmer
Redding CA

THE GHOST QUESTION

A recent It's Questionable item (October
'89) discussed the Ghost bass drum pedal.
I'd like to add my comments. In early 1975,

I bought a Ghost, and found that it was
quicker than the Speed King I'd been us¬
ing for the previous 13 years. A couple of
years later, I decided to buy a second
Ghost, since I wanted a spare at gigs and
to use for practice. So in late 1977 I bought
a Ludwig Ghost. Although it did look the
same, the action—even after weeks of play¬
ing— was nowhere near that of the origi¬
nal pedal. Spring adjustment did not help
the problem, and I ended up trading the
second pedal back to the dealer.

My original Ghost has been played al¬
most every day for 14 years, and the only
problem I've ever had is worn footboard-
to-beater straps. If I can't find these, I make
them. I do not change spring tension, since
this causes the beater to drastically change
angle. I use this pedal for all my playing
and practicing, and it has been on the set
at numerous jam sessions where it has en¬
dured lots of hard playing. (One guy broke
a new head with it.) Some players love it
and others can't use it, but all agree that it
/squick.

I suggest that Ludwig "de-improve" the
tooling, or correct whatever it was that
made their model different from the origi¬
nal. Then they could reissue the Ghost
and have two great pedals to offer. I'll take
a dozen.

Mike Moody
Bloomington IN

BOBBY PREVITE

Thank you for the wonderfully insightful,
entertaining, and inspiring interview with
Bobby Previte. [September '89 MD] I am
greatly sympathetic to his thoughts and
words and am equally grateful to Modern
Drummer for printing them. My heartfelt
appreciation to you both.

Alex Cline
Santa Monica CA

REFLECTIONS OF A NEW YORK
PRODUCER

I would like to compliment the article by
Joe Ferry in the August issue entitled "Re¬
flections Of A New York Producer." I thor¬
oughly enjoyed reading about his perspec¬
tive on some of the great drummers he has
worked with. It gave me a greater appre¬
ciation for drummers like Steve Gadd and
shows just how proficient and professional
they can be even under adverse conditions
(such as working with a producer who
neglected to include a drum chart for him
on a tough piece of music!). Having non¬
drummers in the industry talk about our
heros' adventures in the drumming world
adds fresh perspective to our idols. Please
give us more in the future!

Gord Kribs
Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada

THANKS FROM JOHN

I was both pleased and surprised to learn
that I was one of the winners of the July
MD Trivia Contest and that I would be
receiving the great set of products from JT.
Enterprises. Many thanks to Modern Drum-
merfor running these enjoyable and chal¬
lenging trivia contests.

I have been a subscriber to MD since its
very first issue, and I can't begin to tell you
what an invaluable source of both infor¬
mation and inspiration it has been to me.
Almost every day it seems that I am dig¬
ging through back issues simply for enjoy¬
ment or to find some article to show to one
of my drum students. As a teaching aid,
MD is impossible to beat. The balance of
topics and material is always perfect and (I
can't say this about every other magazine
that I read) there has never been even one
issue from which I did not learn something
new. MD is a great publication; keep up

continued on page 104

ATCHEDGRIP.

One good grip deserves another. So we designed The Stick as a perfect match to your
grip. No matter what you play or how you play it, it’s got the Yamaha difference.
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Smooth natural satin finish.

Yamaha difference. You’ve finally met your match.

MAH A DRUMS

MODERN DRUMMER

Here it is...a sure fire way to get more bang for your
buck! The TAMA/SABIAN BIG DEAL.

Tama, the worlds leading quality rock n roll drum
company has teamed up with Sabian. the
only dedicated cymbal manufacturer
to offer you this incredible deal. Buy
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$120.00 on the following set of red
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splitting 20" ride. Now that is a big deal!

The TAMA/SABIAN BIG DEAL- hot sounding drums
and cymbals at a cool price you won t find anywhere
but your authorized Tama dealer.

The Tanm/Sabian 8tcj Deal cymbal package is available only willi the pt a re base
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For a FREE copy ol Tamas new
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105. Si. Lauren I, Quebec, Canada H4T1V0.

UPDATE

Glenn

Symmonds

Glenn Symmonds has had a
hectic year with Eddie Money,
with whom he has been for the
past four years. "I had been
playing in town with the Un¬
touchables, and Eddie was in
town auditioning drummers.

He came to one of our shows
and came backstage and
offered me the job. I turned
him down, but he eventually
talked me into it. At that time, I
had heard so many stories
about Eddie being messed up
on drugs, so it was important
for me to find out that he
wasn't doing that. Once I
found out he was clean and
sober, it worked out great. Af¬
ter all this time, I'm the band
leader, meaning that I put the
band together and represent
the band."

Musically, what Money
needs from Glenn is a suppor¬
tive drummer. "He's a singer,
so he doesn't want somebody
who is going to get in the way.
It's very simple rock; I call it
meat and potatoes rock. Yet
there are some things we do
with sequencers and more
modern technology. The music
needs authority and convic¬
tion—leadership—and he
needs somebody who really
establishes the time and the
feeling of his music. He just
requires a solid beat and gives
me space to do what I need to
do."

At one point during
concerts, the band leaves the
stage, giving Glenn ten
minutes to do a solo at the be¬
ginning of "Shakin." To Glenn,
a good solo is "communicating
to somebody, making some¬
body in that audience react. I
have a skeleton of a solo, and I
dress that skeleton for the
evening the way I feel,
whether it's putting on a
different pair of shoes or a
different shirt, or dressing that
skeleton with earrings and
lipstick—who knows? Each
night it's a little different," he
says, adding that "Baby Hold
On" and "Walk On Water" are
also favorites of his to play.

As for the records, Glenn
says he's gotten to do some
recording with Money, but that

"That's one of the political
sides of the music business
that people don't really hear
about a lot of times. Eddie may
really want me to do a record,
but the producer might say,
'Hey, I've got my own guys I
use on all my records.' That's
unfortunate, but he is hope¬
fully going to allow me to play
on the two new tracks he's
going to add to his greatest-hits
package."

In his spare time, Glenn
plays with the International
Reggae All stars (Peter Tosh's
band), leads a celebrity golf
tournament each week with
drummers from all over the
southland (California, that is),
and teaches between 15 and
25 students each week he's
home.

—Robyn Flans

Adam

Nussbaum

Since the early part of 1987
Adam Nussbaum has been
touring the USA and Europe
with Michael Brecker's band.
Just before their appearance at
the Northsea Jazz Festival in
Holland—this year visited by
55,000 people—Adam related
what was in store for the band
in the near future: "We're just
finishing up our European tour
now. Then we'll go to Japan to
play a large festival there,
called Live Under The Sky,
featuring Roberta Flack, Ernie
Watts, and the big Ellington
retrospective. That's about
seven gigs throughout Japan
and Hong Kong." Adam says
he enjoys playing in Michael's
band very much. "It's a lot of
fun, musically speaking. The
best way to describe it would
be as a 'Bop & Roll' band,

because we play some serious
jazz as well as some serious
kind of backbeat music. All the
musicians [Mike Stern on
guitar, pianist Joey Calderazo,
Jeff Andrews on bass, and of
course Brecker on sax] are
very strong. This group is a
chance for me to utilize a lot
of my musical influences, and
to bring forth a lot of the music
that I like to play, in just one
band. Everybody plays the shit
out of it in this group; every¬
body is really throwing it
down.

"Next to this band I've also
been doing a lot of free¬
lancing and recording with
different people," Adam
continues. "I just did the first
Blue Note album by Rick
Margitza, who's playing tenor
in Miles Davis's band now. I
also did a record with bebop
singer Jackie Paris, and one
with Tom Harrell, who used to
play in Phil Woods' band.
Those are all jazz recordings,
but I like to cover a lot of
territory. Some things satisfy
needs that are just not satisfied
in other situations. Like
playing in an acoustic piano
trio: Then I can pull out the
old K's, which I can't do in an
electric band. It's hitting at a
different dynamic level. To be
able to achieve the intensity in
a small group as well as in a
big one requires different
concepts, different kinds of
dynamic control."

Adam was also involved
with a European big band run
by Swiss pianist George
Gruntz. "We did a little tour in
May, and we recorded the
group," Adam explains. "He
usually gets musicians from all
over the world and puts it
together, like an all-star big
band. He's done a lot of
writing, and he's been active
in the scene here in Europe,
being involved with classical
projects as well. Last year we
did a jazz-opera with the
Hamburg State Opera, which
was called Cosmopolitan
Greetings and featured a
sextet, including three singers,
on stage. Furthermore, there
were two dancers, a big band
off stage, and an orchestra.

Dee Dee Bridgewater was
involved, as were vocalist
Marc Murphy, trumpeter Don

Cherry, and Larry Schneider on
saxes. It was an interesting
project, coordinated by Robert
Wilson, who is known for his
modern multimedia events.
We're talking about doing it
again in 1990, maybe as an
international production.
Another of my future projects
is an idea of pianist/composer
Jim McNeely's that we'll do
together with John Scofield
and Marc Johnson."

—Hugo Pinksterboer

Martyn Barker

Although Martyn Barker is a
member of King Swamp and
has recently completed their
album, he has also recently
done projects for Shriekback
(Go Bang!), Karl Marsh,
Annabel Lamb, and World
Party. On King Swamp's self-
titled effort and Shriekback's
current release, particularly,
Barker added a great deal of
his input.

"With the likes of
Shriekback, I was more
involved in getting a different
rhythm with lots of percussion.
When we were doing live
shows, the intention was to get
people to move, to dance and
keep that energy level. All
their rhythms are linear; there
are no fills or anything like that
at all. With Shriekback, it's a
bit more intricate and jazzy
than with King Swamp.

"King Swamp has a lot of
high-energy stuff," Martyn
continues. "Take for instance
'Original Man,' which is a very
fast 4/4 groove and which
really has to flow. It has sort of
a difficult rhythm to do. I was
working on getting that rhythm
movable for the song and
making it different as well. If
you take Mel Gaynor's
drumming with Simple Minds,
when he does a rock beat, he
pushes 16ths on the hi-hat,
which kind of drives it.

'Original Man' is very similar
to that, but there are quarters
and 8ths, and we have an
accent on the bass drum, just
before the four-in-the-bar beat.
It kind of pushes it along and
makes it really exciting.
Meanwhile, the bass guitar is
doing 8ths. I also did a bit of
programming on the album.
And there is a lot of percus-

MODERN DRUMMER

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Closer To Perfection

If you're a serious drummer, then you already know that Sonor drums are devasfatingly close
to perfection. And you also know they're very expensive.

But you may not know why they are so expensive. Its the defai/s that give Sonor the quality that
no other drum can equal They look it and they sound it. And that dedication to quality doesn't
come at bargain prices. So Sonors may be a bit harder to acquire.

But once you've played on them there's no turning back.

Anyway, there is something we can do for you. Simply visit your Sonor dealer! Check out our
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AT SONOR

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*By the way, every
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sion—tambourine, shakers,
lots of cymbal crashes. There
was even more percussion on
the Shriekback album, though,
with gongs, congas, and
claves.

"'Sacrament' on the King
Swamp album is one of my
favorite tracks," Martyn says.
"It's one of those very big
ballad-type songs where you
really have to capture the feel.
Everybody loves to do big, fast
songs, and they're easy to do,
but it's kind of the moody,
slow-moving songs with that
big snare drum that are a
challenge—getting that right
sound on the snare drum and
just getting the right feel,
making it really, really huge
and building it.

"'Is This Love' is a combina¬
tion of drum machine and real
drums, with bits of cymbals
and accents, working around
the drum machine. In the last
couple of years I've learned
howto use drum machines
and work around them.
'Louisiana Bride' has a great
Linn Drum feel. If you try to do
it with real drums, it doesn't
quite capture it, so you work
around it.

'"Motherlode' is one of
those rhythms that you do the
same bass drum beat all the
way through the song. I started
it from kind of a rimshot idea,
then putting the snare in and
building it. I played to a click
track, which I think you have
to do because it's such a
linear-type feel. I put a triangle
and a tambourine in and
overdubs of crashes. But the
basic beat was done in one
take. It's a very difficult one to
do because you really have to
swing it and you've got the
triangle doing 3's over the 4/4
beat." Martyn says that King
Swamp should be completing
another album by spring of
next year.

—Robyn Flans

Paul Read

One night Paul Read was
working in a local bar band in
his town of Ipswich, England,
when someone from the
Outfield's management team
wandered in. A couple of
weeks later, they phoned Paul
and asked him to sit in the

drum seat that Alan Jackman
had recently vacated. "That's
alright, isn't it!" Paul exclaims
with a laugh. "The next thing I
know, I'm being flown around
to all kinds of places and
doing all these fantastic gigs."

Actually, first he went to
London to rehearse with them
for a day, and then he had the
job. "I just listened to the
albums a lot to prepare," he
recalls. "I put the headphones
on, turned up loud, and
drummed along with them.
That's how I learned how to
play drums in the first place,
by listening to other drum¬
mers. Then as we're playing
the songs live, new ideas are
constantly coming up. On the
older, more popular songs, I've
kept the majority of the fills the
same, but I've had no pressure
on me to play certain parts at
all. We work it as a new band,
really," Paul explains, adding
that the music requires a
steady groove beat, lots of
power, and little flash.

"We do an extended version
of a song called 'I Don't
Need Her,' and it turns into a
jam. No night is the same. I
don't think I drum the same
way twice, anyway. Every¬
thing I do is spur of the
moment, and I never really
know what I'm going to do, to
be honest with you. It's just a
jam improvisation."

Needless to say, the past
year has been a big change for
Paul. "It's really a dream come
true," he says. "This is all I've
ever had my heart on doing, so
I was all ready for it. Plus I'm
having to use technology—
programming—that I haven't
done before. I'll program a few
percussion tracks, stuff I'd do if
I had another set of arms,
really—tambourine, triangles,
and that sort of thing."

The album on which the
Outfield is currently working—
his first recording with the
band—promises to be a group
project, says Read. "There are
a couple of songs that Tony
[Lewis] and John [Spinks] have
more or less finished, where
they know roughly how
they're going to be. But the
rest of the album will be pretty
much made up spur of the
moment."

—Robyn Flans

News...

The Cleveland Opera opened
its 1989-90 season with the
world premiere of Floly Blood
And Crescent Moon, com¬
posed by Stewart Copeland.
Shown in the photo are (left to
right) Copeland, Cleveland
Opera Director David
Bamberger, and conductor
Imre Pallo.

Milton Sledge on current
albums by Barbara Mandrell,
Kathy Mattea, Shenandoah,
Crystal Gayle, the O'Kanes,
and Russell Smith.

Marc Cohen touring with
Russell Smith.

Clint de Ganon can be
heard on Warren Wolfs new
record, as well as playing live
with Wolf and doing some
European dates with Peter
Moffitt. Clint also completed a
track for a Japanese group
called Bread & Butter.

Matt Johnson on tour with
Canadian group 54-40 in
support of their new album,
Fight For Love.

Terry Bozzio on Jeff Beck's
Guitar Shop, as well as doing
live dates with the group.

Sol Gubin working with
Frank Sinatra.

Mel Watts on Del Shannon's
current release, as well as
doing dates with Shannon.

Mel is also on an album for
CBS artist Zaca Creek (and can
be heard on the Traveling
Wilburys' "Let's Dance").

Percussionist Bill Summers
working on Quincy Jones's
newest effort.

Craig Krampf producing and
playing on Ashley Cleveland's
Curb debut.

Eddie Bayers working with
Eddy Raven and Alabama, and

can be heard on some of Buck
Owens' new tracks.

Harry Stinson is also on
Buck Owens' newest, as well
as working with J.C. Crowley,
Rob Crosby, Steve Wariner, the
Forrester Sisters, Suzy Boggus,
and Matraca Berg, and begins
working on James House's
next album next month. He is
also the writer of the Ricky
Skaggs single "Let It Be You."

Geoff Dugmore on Tony
Banks's Bankstatement.

Michael Graves back in the
studio with Broken Homes.

Matt Chamberlain on New
Bohemians' contribution to the
soundtrack for Bom On The
4th OfJuly. The band is due to
go into the studio next month.

James Stroud on The
Snakes' debut Curb release.

Rikki Rockett enters the
studio this month with Poison,
who hope to have an album
out by next June.

Chalo Quintana on the road
with Walking Wounded in
support of their album Raging
Winds Of Time.

Frank Beard is on the new
ZZ Top album, as well as
playing a part on the Disney
Channel's Mother Goose Rock
'n' Rhyme, a 90-minute
musical movie produced by
Shelley Duvall. He and his
two ZZ cohorts play The Three
Men in a Tub in an elaborate
fantasy.

Russ Kunkel on tour with
Stevie Nicks.

James Bradley, Jr. on the
road with Mary's Danish,
supporting their album There
Goes The Wondertruck.

Charly Alberti spent the fall
touring Latin America with
Soda Stereo.

f®

What You See

Is As Good

As What You Hear

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stage with the Mapex Saturn Series —
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people who understand the importance of
a premiere performance. Mapex Saturns
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need it! Saturn’s screaming snare will
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and our booming bass will rock you
down to your bones — all without
missing a beat!

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polished maple and hardwood add some
pretty serious curves to this
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ASK A PRO

JONATHAN MOVER

BILLY COBHAM

Q. You re a drummer I really like to listen
to; you seem to have that special touch
when you jam on your drums. In addition
to your talent, you have a great build, and
you seem to control your body very well
when you work with the sticks. I'm a 25-
year-old bodybuilder, and I've been play¬
ing drums for five years. I want to work on
my speed and control, with both hands
and feet. Should I spend more time in the
practice room and less in the weight room?
Are there some special exercises that you
work on to develop that special touch?

Gerardo Silva
Redwood City CA
A. I generally practice with parade sticks,
about the Pro-Mark 767 weight, and a prac¬

Q. I was really impressed with your Sound
Supplement in the July issue of MD. One
thing I noticed in the notes prior to the
transcription is that you mention compos¬
ing with Marillion. I am a very big Maril-
lion fan, and have never seen your name
mentioned in connection with the band.
What exactly was it you did with them?
Also, who are the other members that you
mention play on the Supplement and demo
with you? Good luck with your solo mate¬
rial.

Jim Siegel
Sharon MA

A. Thank you for your letter; I'm glad you
enjoyed the Sound Supplement. To answer
your question, I worked with Marillion for
a short period in the fall of 1983. During

tice pad. I concentrate on posture and bal¬
ance while sitting at the drumset, since I
believe that if a player sits below or above
the drumset he immediately is working at a
power-distribution disadvantage and can¬
not possibly utilize all of his power source.
If you work in the gym, then you know that
you cannot obtain a full workout without
first knowing how to prepare to lift so that
the optimum effect can be gained from the
exercise you are doing. Maintaining good,
solid, personal balance in lifting free weights
is very, very important.

How you address the drumset is also
very important to your control of the drums.
If you work a lot with the forearm muscle
group to gain and maintain speed, then I

that time, we did a live German radio broad¬
cast (which was later pressed and released
in Europe), then headed to Rockfield Stu¬
dios in Wales to start writing the next al¬
bum. My contributions as a composer/ar¬
ranger were mainly on "Punch & Judy,"
"Incubus," and "Jigsaw." These three songs,
as well as "Assasing," were all written and
demoedprior to my leaving the band. You
will find my name listed among the credits
of the Fugazi album.

Here's some background on the other
two players on the Supplement: Michael
Bean (bass) has recorded and/or performed
with a variety of players, including myself,
Vinnie Moore, Richie Kotzen, and Blues
Saraceno. Brian Rahlly (guitar) is a Boston-
area musician who can be seen and heard
with many of the local acts there.

would suggest that you try the smaller, more
agile finger group. The fingers tend to pro¬
vide you with more speed—as well as the
ability for greater staying power when it
comes to sustaining a particularly fast and
complex pattern.

I don't think that you necessarily need to
spend more or less time in the weight¬
training room versus the drum-practice
room. But I do think that you need to study
how the patterns that you probably already
control to a certain degree can work better
for you with a much more limited amount
of effort applied to them. This is accom¬
plished by understanding your body and
how you can make it work more efficiently
for you.

JOE FRANCO

Q. I went to see you many times when you
played with the Good Rats in and around
Long Island, New York, and your style and
showmanship really inspired me to play
the drums. I noticed then that you were
playing Premier drums, and I was wonder¬
ing if you still do and what your setup
looks like. Can you fill me in please?

Gerry Seidl

Lowell MA

A. Thank you for the kind words. I'm glad
to have inspired you. Yes, I still use Premier
drums, and have been for 12 years now. In
my current live setup, I use two 16x24
Resonator bass drums, 12", 14", and 15"
Projector power rack toms, and 16" and

18" floor toms. Sometimes I'll use 10", 12",
and 14" rack toms for recording. I also
often record with one of my old Premier
Soundwave kits because I love the sound
cf Soundwave toms. For snares, my current
favorite is the Premier 6 1/2x14 brass snare.
The drum was modified for me by Tom
Meyers at Premier. He puts on extra-wide
snares and a heavy-duty top rim (the kind
they use on their parade drums). He also
silicones two thin rubber fan belts around
the inner shell, top and bottom, to take out
just enough of the ring. For recording, I'll
also bring along a 6 1/2" and an 8" wood
snare, as well as my Premier piccolo snare.

MODERN DRUMMER

Most drummers strive for a fat, rich, full and
powerful tom sound. That’s why so many heavy
hitters use RIMS? 5

With RIMS drum mounts from PureCussion',"
you’ll release all of the potential volume, power
and depth of tone that your toms are capable
of producing.

GET BACK TO THE
FUNDAMENTAL.

Most importantly, with RIMS, the fundamental
tone — true pitch — from your toms cuts
through. RIMS can help you eliminate unwanted
high-pitched overtones and ring without using
tape, towels or tissue.

Plus, your toms tuning capability and range
will increase — especially in the lower register.
It’s the edge you seek for live or studio playing.

Hit one of your mounted toms. You’ll hear a
loss of sound quality as the vibrations from the
drumhead deaden. This is due to the grounding
effect that mounting hardware has on your
drum shell.

Now remove the tom,
support it with your
fingertips under the
hoop, and strike it
again. Notice the imme¬
diate improvement in
the sound quality when
you eliminate grounded
hardware. RIMS work
like your fingertips.

RIMS also isolate
vibrations from other drums for miking and
triggering applications.

GETFATINMINUTES-WITHOUT
BREAKING THE BANK.

SUSPEND YOUR JUDGEMENT
UNTIL YOU’VE SUSPENDED
YOUR TOMS.

'lake a look at the oscilloscope picture. Adding
RIMS allows the shell to vibrate freely. The
fundamental pitches’ attack has greater
amplitude, the tone is more complex, and the
sustain or duration of audible sound is signifi¬
cantly extended.

mounts on your toms is a iew
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IT’S QUESTIONABLE

Q. Please give me an address for the Sleishman Drum Company in
Australia. I would like to get specific information on their double
pedal pictured in your Summer NAMM '89 feature on page 36 of
the October 1989 issue of Modem Drummer. Sleishman's pedal is
the ideal product that will give me the body positioning I have
been seeking on my kit.

S.C.

Havelock NC

A. You can contact the Sleishman Drum Company at Tl Prices
Circuit, Woronora, New South Wales 2232, Australia. You should
direct your correspondence to Don Sleishman, who invented the
pedal; he'll be pleased to learn of your interest.

Q. I have two questions, both relating to the J.C. Deagan com¬
pany. First, what is their current status, and second, where can I
get spare parts (pickups, support pieces, grommets, etc.) for a
Deagan Model 575 Electravibe? Mine is in desperate need of
repair.

R.L.

Albany NY

A. The J.C. Deagan company was purchased by Yamaha seven
years ago. Yamaha has continued to manufacture only chimes and
orchestra bells, and can only supply parts for those instruments.
This manufacturing takes place at Yamaha's Grand Rapids, Michi¬
gan facility.

Deagan instruments were originally manufactured at 1770 West
Bertrau, Chicago, Illinois 60613. That is now the address for
Sentry Mallet Works, which is owned and operated by Mr. Gilberto
Serna. Yamaha sold the parts and tooling that they did not want
from the Deagan lines to Mr. Serna. You can contact him for
further information regarding parts for your Electravibe. His num¬
ber is (312) 248-7733.

Q. I was wondering why no major drum company—or any drum
company, for that matter—is producing drums with pure fiberglass
shells. I know that Pearl and Yamaha used to make them in the late
'60s but discontinued production in the early 70s. Were the
drums expensive to make, were there mechanical problems in¬
volved with the drums, or did the market go bad because of
newer, better-sounding wood drums? I was also curious whether
fiberglass shells in good condition will be collectors items in the
near future. Finally, I've heard of drummers Vibrafibing their wooden
drums with fiberglass. Is this an alternative to having all-fiberglass
shells?

B.C.

Denver CO

A. While it is true that some of the companies that made fiberglass
drums in the '60s have either discontinued those drums (such as
Pearl) or have gone out of business completely (such as North and
Fibes), it is certainly not true that no major drum companies are
producing all-fiberglass drums today. Tempus Instruments and
Impact Industries both offer excellent fiberglass drums, and raw
fiberglass shells are available from A.F. Blaemire for those who like
to custom-build their own drums.

The demise of the earlier fiberglass drums was due mainly to
changing trends in drum sounds. Fiberglass drums produce bright
drum sounds with lots of sharp attack. They are also quite loud.
During the '70s, we saw the heyday of the dull, flat, "studio"
sound in drums, which called for mellower-sounding drums made
of wood. Fiberglass drums had always been a small portion of the
overall drum market, and when interest in them sagged even more
due to this trend, the drum manufacturers simply found that it was
no longer profitable to offer them. Those companies that also sold
wood drums continued to do so; most of those that sold only
fiberglass drums left the market entirely. While it is not likely that
any fiberglass drums will be collectors items simply because they

are fiberglass, it is not unusual for collectors to look for drums
made by some of those companies that went out of business, such
as North, Fibes, orZickos.

Finally, Vibrafibing is a process by which a fiberglass coating is
applied to the interior of wood shells. It first came to prominence
when Neil Peart described how he had had it done to his drums
by the Percussion Center, of Fort Wayne, Indiana. It is not really an
alternative to all-fiberglass shells; it is a means of gaining some of
the properties of fiberglass shells (increased projection and reflec¬
tiveness) while retaining some of the warmth and depth of wood.

Q. Do you know of any companies who specialize in customizing
bass drum heads, in terms of putting pictures on them?

B.P.

Maiden MA

A. We know of no company whose business it is to illustrate bass
drum heads. However, any good commercial art firm or sign
painting company could probably do such a job for you. Obvi¬
ously, you'll need to give them a sketch of the design and/or
lettering you want, or work with their artists to create such a
design. It will also be important for you to take the drumhead in to
them when you first discuss such a project, since most drumheads
are made of Mylar, which is difficult for some paints and inks to
adhere to. A white-coated head will generally serve as a better
"canvas" for artwork than any smooth head, but a knowledgeable
artist will be able to determine what sort of medium will work best
on whatever head you wish to use.

The Remo company can do some custom artwork as a special-
order item on drumheads they manufacture. You should contact
the company directly at 12804 Raymer Street, North Hollywood,
California 91605 for further information.

Q. In the February 1989 issue of MD, there is a Product Close-Up
on Paiste 2000 and 3000 cymbals. In the section about the ride
cymbals it mentioned that the 22" 3000 Heavy Ride had a good
bell, but that its sound was choked with a wood-tip stick but
improved with a nylon-tip stick. Does that mean I can use a 58 or
28 nylon-tip stick, or does it have to be a lighter stick to bring out
the precise sound of the cymbal?

R.M.

North Arlington NJ

A. There are a lot of factors involved in answering your question.
Generally speaking, any nylon-tip stick will produce a sharper,
brighter "ping" sound from a cymbal than will a comparable
wood-tip stick. Also generally speaking, a stick with a gradual
taper and a thinner neck will produce a more delicate, higher-
pitched sound than will a stick with a thicker neck and more
weight up front. (Such a stick will bring out more of the full range
of a cymbal's pitches.) And finally, the third generalization to keep
in mind is a relationship between stick and cymbal: The smaller
the stick size in relation to the cymbal weight and thickness, the
lighter and more delicate the sound produced by that stick on that
cymbal. This means that a 5A stick on a 20" medium ride cymbal
will produce a pretty well-rounded sound, while on a 22" 3000
Heavy Ride it will likely "bounce off" a great deal and thus
produce a higher, lighter sound. Conversely, a 2B stick will pound
the daylights out of the 20" medium ride, thus producing a deeper,
washier sound (since it's having more of an effect on the total
cymbal) while it will "bounce off" the 3000 a bit more, and thus
produce a more distinct sound. The key to getting the sound you
want is finding the right stick to use for the given situation. It's
possible to get very different sounds out of the same cymbal
simply by switching sticks. This can save you bundles on your
cymbal setup.

MODERN DRUMMER

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ffiu 1 bBl \X

It's intermission at a 1988 Frank Zappa concert. It's a rather long
intermission, too, because Zappa has tables set up in the lobby
where people can register to vote, so I take advantage of the time
to go backstage and visit Ed Mann. Things are rather hectic in
the band's dressing room, where a 60 Minutes film crew is
gathering footage of the band members and assorted wives and
girlfriends, all of whom are doing their best to perform for the
cameras in a fashion suitable to fulfill most people's ideas of how
a touring rock 'n' roll band acts on the road. Ed and I retire to the
hallway outside, where we engage in some very non-rock 'n' roll
conversation about the rewards and responsibilities of parent¬
hood. Suddenly, Ed looks at his watch and excuses himself. "I
have to change disks before the next half," he explains, heading
for the stage.

Change disks? Mann certainly didn't have to do anything like
that the first time I saw him live with Zappa in '81. And yet, at
the time, his percussion setup was very state-of-the-art by virtue
of the fact that his mallet-keyboard instruments were fitted with
pickups and he had a couple of Syndrums. Now, however, with
the advent of MIDI, the setup has changed significantly to in¬
clude a KAT, two Simmons Silicon Mallets, a sampler, and vari¬
ous other devices designed to give him access to the widest
possible variety of sounds within the smallest amount of space.
Not that the setup is any smaller, though, or that it doesn't in¬
clude any acoustic instruments. Although the electronics have
replaced instruments such as chimes and timpani, there is still an
acoustic vibraphone, a rack of gongs, and a table full of shakers,
ratchets, tambourines, duck calls—you name it.

And during the show, Ed is running around within his setup
just as much as he ever did, but he's playing even more than he
used to. He doesn't have to drop his mallets to grab a rawhide
hammer when he wants to play chimes now; he plays them from
the Silicon Mallet. But while he's doing that with one hand, he
plays vibe chords with the other, or shakes a tambourine, or
smacks a suspended crash cymbal. I don't know if Zappa is the
kind of guy who pays extra for "doubling," but with Ed Mann,
he's getting about three players' worth of percussion in one
person.

"Technology has changed everything," Mann admits. "Look at
timpani, for example. I had two acoustic timpani on the first
Zappa tour I did in 1977, but I could only use them to play
isolated parts of two or three notes, or to roll on the final holding
chord of a tune. Plus, they took up a lot of room, and we could
never get them miked properly. But now, with sampling, I can
have timpani sounds spread out over a mallet keyboard, which
means I never have to worry about tuning, and I can play fast,
scalular runs that you could never do on a regular set of timpani.
Plus, there are no miking problems. Everything just comes di¬
rectly out of the speakers. To be able to use timpani this way is
amazing.

"It's the same with chimes," Ed continues. "We carried chimes
on every tour, but the pickups never really worked very well,
and with microphones you don't get the real body of the sound.
You get the attack, but then it dies away and gets lost in every¬
thing else that's happening on the stage. I sampled the chimes
and all the other percussion instruments myself in a nice-sound¬
ing room using a Beyer M88 microphone into a Sony F-7 digital
encoder. So now, whenever you hear the chimes, you hear the
recording of them in that room, into the M88, etc. It makes for a
very controlled sound."

When using sampled sounds over a large range, it is often
necessary to make multiple samples of the original instrument;
otherwise, notes that are a lot lower than the original note can
sound overly stretched out, and notes that are higher can start
sounding like "chipmunk" music. But Mann found that he could
go pretty far with a single chime note. "I stretched one chime
sample over a major tenth," he explains. "It sounded completely
natural. I sampled the D above middle C, so it went down a
whole step and up a major ninth. I originally sampled all of the

"It's

always
a kick
when
you do
some¬
thing
for the
first time:
first gig,
first time
on the
road, first
time with
a major
band....
So for
me,

having
my first
solo

album is
that kind
of experi¬
ence."

notes on the instrument; I chose the D be¬
cause it had the best attack, and it seemed
to resonate the best in that room and with
that mic'. It was simply the best overall
sample, and it worked fine for the program
where I needed a tenth. I did make an
extended program that was three octaves,
and for that I used two chime samples: the
lowest note on the instrument and the high¬
est.

"With some instruments you can only
use one or two samples and it sounds fine,"'
Ed says. "But with others you can't. With
marimba, it starts to sound Squirrelly within
about a fifth or sixth, so you have to
resample. Drums often need multiple
samples, too. But you never really know
until you do it and listen back to hear the
final result. Your ear will tell you if it needs
to be multi-sampled or if one is enough.

"Another interesting thing about the
chimes," Mann adds, "is that the samples I
used were not made by using a regular
rawhide chime mallet, but with a piece of
wood. For some reason, by the time the
sound came out of the sampler and was
reproduced the way we reproduced it, that
sounded more natural than the samples we
made with the real chime mallet. The one
with the rawhide mallet was too harsh; I
think it was too much for the microphone
or the room. It just didn't sound the same
when it came back out of the sampler as it
did to my ear when I hit it in the room.
When I struck it with a piece of wood, you
could hear a lot more of the fundamental,
and it sounded more like a real chime. I've
used that sample a lot with Frank and on
other recording projects, and people al¬
ways marvel at that sound. It was just a
fluke. When you're making samples, occa¬
sionally you get those great ones, and some¬
times you get one that just doesn't come
out as well as you thought it would. There
are so many factors involved that it's hard
to know why that happens."

Besides the advantages of using samples
for instruments such as chimes and tim¬
pani, technology also allowed Mann to have
sounds that were previously unavailable or
impractical. "Before," Ed says, "I could
never have used something like Tibetan
prayer bowls and gotten them to project
over an ensemble. But with sampling, all
of a sudden they're like big, loud bells.
And one sound was a bunch of garbage
cans. There was no way we could have
had a rack full of garbage cans on stage.
We didn't have room, and miking would
have been a big problem. Or tabla—there
was no way I could have thrown the mal¬
lets down, run over, picked up the tabla for
a quick lick, thrown them down, and run
back to play something else. But I was able
to do all of these things from one pair of
mallets. I had programs where a small por¬
tion of the keyboard was allotted to tabla,
another part was chimes, another part was
woodblocks and batterie-type percussion,

MODERN DRUMMER

not lose your point of view. Know the rea¬
son you play percussion to begin with, and
what you can bring to that group of sounds
from your experience. It's not just the sounds
of percussion, it's also knowing how those
sounds fit orchestrationally. Ultimately, you
come up with something different than the
average keyboard player would, the same
way that a keyboard player would come
up with better keyboard parts, because he's
trained to think a certain way. So it's good
to take advantage of the technology, but
it's important not to lose yourself behind
sounds that have become popular. If per¬
cussionists lost their identities trying to
emulate another instrumental group, that
would be an unfortunate side effect of the
economic factors that affect musicians.

"I almost got caught up in that myself at
one point," Ed admits. "There was a period
of time where I only wanted to play elec¬
tronics. But I reached a period of saturation
with it, and now one of my favorite things
to do is play acoustic marimba. After
working with electronics a lot, you learn
the freedom they give you, but you
also learn the limitations they have.
They don't have the same dynamic
range, they don't have the same
timbral qualities, and they are
not nearly as expressive. You
might be able to boost the
overall volume of an elec¬
tronic mallet instrument
to the point where it's
louder than an
acoustic marimba,
but relatively
speaking, the
acoustic in¬
strument
hasawider
dynamic
range. I don't
think you could
ever graph it out and
say, 'Well, here it is. These
are the limits.' Within the realm
^ * of MIDI instruments, there are gen¬
erally 128 programmable steps that can
be assigned to a given parameter such as
velocity response. While that might sound
like a lot, it's really not when compared to
the dynamic range of most acoustic instru¬
ments—especially percussion instruments."

That's one of the reasons that a lot of
percussionists refuse to get involved with
electronic technology at all. And yet, con¬
sidering all of the people who have tried to
find practical ways to attach pickups to
vibes and marimbas over the years so that
they could participate in contemporary rock
and jazz settings, it is surprising that instru¬
ments such as the KAT mallet controller
and the Simmons Silicon Mallet have only
enjoyed modest sales thus far. "Don't ask
me why," Ed says, shaking his head. "I'm
baffled by it. You would think that players
would be eager to be able to address all
the new sounds that are at their finger¬
tips—or mallet-tips, rather. Of course, when
these instruments were first introduced, they

and I could just stand there and get to all of it. Normally, it would
have taken a couple of people to do that much.

"The'bottom line of all this technology," Ed concludes, "is that
my role as a percussionist changed. Before, I only had four melodic
timbres: vibes, marimba, xylophone, and orchestra bells. Now, I
have all kinds of samples of my own, plus I was MIDIed into
Frank's Synclavier, and he has a whole world of samples. So my
role changed in terms of orchestration. I wasn't just doing things
that a traditional percussionist did; all of a sudden it was the
percussionist's job to play a harp lick. And then there were these
vocal samples—anything from [guitarist/vocalist] Ike Willis scream¬
ing like Sam Kinison to the Wicked Witch saying '...and your little
dog, too.' These sounds would just come out of nowhere during
the show. As the percussionist, I wound up triggering all
these things, even though a lot of people on stage had
MIDI. The keyboard players could have triggered
the vocal samples; in fact, at one point I tried
to get them to do it because I was run
ning out of memory on my sampler.

But they looked at me like I was
crazy. 'We can't do that.

We're keyboard play¬
ers. You're the per¬
cussionist. You do
it.'

"And actually they
were right," Ed con¬
cedes. "Even though
MIDI is available to eve¬
rybody, it's right for the per¬
cussionist to play the tabla
part because he knows how it
should go. And it's also right for
the percussionist to trigger the
weird sound effects. When Wagner
needed someone to hit an anvil, he
didn't give it to the clarinet player; the
percussionist did it. So triggering vocal
samples kind of fell in line with the ever-
expanding role that percussionists are here
to fill."

Discussing the percussionist's role can be a
sensitive subject—especially among percussion¬
ists themselves. Many musicians see percussion¬
ists as "auxiliary" players who, at best, add a little
color, and at worst, make everything sound like Spike
Jones. As a result, many percussionists become overly
defensive about their function. And in this age of MIDI, it
has led some mallet players to completely abandon tradi¬
tional percussive timbres and focus on synthesizer sounds
that make their mallet instruments sound like keyboards.

Ed is well aware of this problem. "At times," he says, "I've felt
that perception in other people's minds. It's a misperception, but
if that's all they think a percussionist is there to do, then they don't
bother to include you in their music because they think, 'Well,
that's cute, but I don't need it.' We saw it happen in the late '70s
and early '80s, when money was tight and bands were being
trimmed down. The first guy to go was the percussionist, because
that was always the thing people thought they could get along
without.

"If playing percussion is what you depend on for your liveli¬
hood, you start to get nervous about it," Ed says. "So when some¬
thing like MIDI comes along and you have the opportunity to
address the same sounds as the guys who are working a lot—the
keyboard players—then it's natural to want to be included in that
group. 'See, I can make those sounds, too.' But if you go into it
head over heels and take that on as your new identity, you leave
everything behind that is special about being a percussionist. You
end up becoming part of a generic group of musicians who all use
the same sounds, and there's nothing very special about that.

"So it's important to have some perspective on where you're
coming from, and even though you're using this new technology,

MODERN DRUMMER

were prohibitive financially. Since then they
have come down in price, so now it's proba¬
bly easier for people to afford. But I have
talked with people who are very reluctant
to get involved with it. I guess the only
thing you can say is that they are purists
who are not willing to dilute the art form in
any way. And that's their right. There cer¬
tainly is nothing that is going to replace the
acoustic vibraphone. Nothing is going to
replace a marimba. And there's nothing
that's going to replace a sampler. They are
just different instruments. One doesn't X-
out the other. They both should work to¬
gether, and that's how you achieve the most
dramatic range of sound available. It's just
part of the total picture.

"Some people may be intimidated by
the technological aspect of it," Ed consid¬
ers. "They might be afraid that they will
have to spend most of their time twisting
knobs and crunching numbers, and not
actually playing the instrument. That can
be true. I've gone through periods where
I've added up my time at the end of the
week, and 80% of it was programming and
only 20% was playing. As a result, my
playing would take a temporary nosedive—
or at least I didn't move ahead. And that's
not good; if you're a player you don't want
to sacrifice that and become dependent on
sequencers and that kind of thing. But I
haven't found it to be a permanent limita¬
tion because ultimately it opens my ears to
new things. By being able to address differ¬
ent timbres I wind up playing differently,
and I see that as part of the growth cycle.

"But that's just me," Ed says. "Other
people may feel differently about it, and
they have every right to do what they want.
I would hope that enough players latch on
so that the manufacturers are motivated to
keep making these instruments, because if
sales aren't good enough, then they won't.
Many of the major electronics manufactur¬
ers are having a hard time these days. So
we can be thankful for guys like Bill Ka-
toski, who has this small, family-run busi¬
ness making KATs, and he's completely
dedicated to the art of percussion control¬
lers. Without guys like that, we'd really be
in the dark. Hopefully this thing will even¬
tually catch on, and someday you'll be
able to go out and buy a mallet controller
as easily as you can buy a keyboard instru¬
ment.

"You know," Ed muses, "a lot of percus¬
sionists are probably shocked that technol¬
ogy ever arrived at their door. I mean, look
at the vibraphone. Why doesn't anyone
make a vibe that goes below F? If they
would at least go down one note to E then
you could play with guitarists and have
that note in common. But they only make
vibes that go from F to F because that was
the original design and it will never change.
So ten years ago, when keyboard players
were suddenly getting all of these new
sounds, percussionists probably thought,
'We'll never have all of this electronic stuff
because manufacturers have never paid any
attention to us anyway, so we'll concen¬

trate on all of the acoustic instruments.' Now, when a couple of
manufacturers do apply the technology to percussion, it takes a
couple of years for people to get turned around and start thinking,
'Oh, the stuff is here for us. We can use it."'

Ed Mann has certainly been one to use it, to the point of finding
ways to adapt equipment to his needs in ways the manufacturers
never thought of. For example, while preparing for the Zappa tour,
he came across a device called The Mapper, made by Axxess
Unlimited and marketed by Intelligent Music. Originally, the de¬
vice was intended to do the kind of thing described above: allow
Ed to divide his mallet keyboard into different areas, and have
different types of instruments grouped on one keyboard. "The
Mapper can do a lot of different things," Ed says. "In fact, I've heard
it referred to as a Swiss army knife for MIDI. Besides dividing the
keyboard into different sections, another way I used it was to build

up chord voicings on individual notes. That way, I could be play¬
ing a slow vibraphone melody with one hand, and with the other
hand I could play complex chords on the Silicon Mallet by just
hitting one note. And the chords could be made up of synthesizer
sounds combined with a single chime note from the sampler.

"But what is really novel is the switching system I worked out.
After I had all of the MIDI program information organized, I still
had to come up with a way to get from one group of sounds to
another, or into the Synclavier, without having to drop the mallets
and press a program number. So, using The Mapper, we came up
with a system whereby I could step on a footpedal, and that would
cutoff all sound and put the keyboard into switch mode. Middle C
became the number 10, D became 20, and so on. As soon as I hit
one of those, it changed again so that C became 1, D became 2,
etc. What that meant was that if I wanted to go to, say, program 35,

I would step on the footpedal, hit E and then G, and the sounds
would change from chimes, timpani, and woodblock, to strings,
vocal samples, and tabla, or whatever. And it happened fast; I
could hit the two notes almost as close together as you would play
a flam, and it would change instantaneously.

"The guys at Intelligent Music were pretty amazed by that. They
helped us—myself and the technicians, Bob Rice and Chuck
Becker—work out the system when I told them what we wanted to
do one night at a rehearsal. They didn't have to burn any new chips
or anything; they just had to type some numbers into the program.
You can write hexadecimal code into The Mapper, which allows
for this kind of unorthodox programming."

Hearing Mann discuss electronics at this level, one might as¬
sume that he has some type of engineering background, or at least
that he spent a lot of time learning about electronics in college. Not
so. During his years as a student at CalArts, Ed spent major portions
of his time studying the mridangam—the principal hand drum of
South Indian classical (Karnatic) music. That's about as far from

MODERN DRUMMER

Photo by Leslie Burke

"A lot of percus-
probably
technology
at their

1. Electronics Rack#1

Same as Zappa setup

2. Electronics Rack #2

Same as Zappa setup but without SDX

3. Deagan vibes with transducers

4. Simmons Silicon Mallet (3 octave)

5. Percussion Rack

1 Paiste 14" Short Crash
1 Paiste 2000 series 20" China-type
1 Paiste 2000 series 8" splash

1 Paiste 3000 series 8" bell

2 layered, old, cracked cymbals

3 LP cowbells (high, medium, low)
2 Remo Spoxe (5.5" and 9.5")

1 Chinese temple block

6. Remo Timbales

7. Gon Bops conga and tumba

8. Paiste Sound Creation Cong #4 (24")

Hand percussion (on tops of racks 1 and 2):
homemade shakers, Remo tambourines, JAG
talking drum and Toke bell, LP bell tree.

Microphone: Beyer M88 dynamic

Speakers: 2 Electro-Voice model 100S

Sticks and mallets: Vic Firth 5A sticks; Vic Firth
M2 and M3 mallets

Setup designed and built with Chuck Becker

"On the other hand, plenty of people become accomplished
players without going to college, so college is just one way of doing
it. These days, it might be financially prohibitive; do you want to
spend $50,000 for four years in a theoretical environment? Maybe
not. Maybe you should just go out and start getting professional
experience as soon as possible. But then again, maybe you are the
type of person who needs three or four years of concentrated study
before you can be ready to be professional. That varies from indi¬
vidual to individual.

"One thing I've noticed is that the nature of the percussion stu¬
dents I've seen is changing. Less and less are coming in as all¬

electronics as one can get.

"I really should get back into that," Ed laughs. "And I'm not sorry
that I spent all of that time playing mridangam. It was time well
spent. For a real all-around percussionist, it takes years to develop
proficiency on all of the instruments. Electronics is just one aspect
of it. Hand drums are another aspect, and they are really important,
as are each of the aspects of percussion. To me they are all part of
the same thing."

But for students entering college, certain decisions have to be
made. Should they view college as a place to prepare for the real
world? If so, then perhaps they should be taking courses in elec¬
tronics and in how to record a jingle. Or should college be a place
where you can forget about the real world for a few years and
concentrate on the art? As we enter the '90s, would Mann encour¬
age someone who wanted to pursue a course in hand drumming for
four years, or would he encourage a more "modern" course of
study?

"I don't know," he says, after a long pause. "The more years I
spend teaching at CalArts and hanging around the college environ¬
ment, the more I am completely confused by it. I don't know what
the real purpose of college is. I suppose it depends on the individ¬
ual. For me, the best part of going to college was being exposed to
things I had never seen or heard before, and to be able to experi¬
ment in a safe—non-professional—environment. Also, it was nec¬
essary for me in terms of the fact that I didn't own a marimba or
timpani or any of those instruments. So I
needed to be in a place that gave
me access to all of that
stuff.

Ed Mann
Setup
(General)

MODERN DRUMMER

Photo by Leslie Burke

sionists are
shocked that
ever arrived
door."

1. Electronics Rack#1

1 Axxess/Iintelligent Music The Mapper

2 Yamaha SPX 90s

1 Oberheim Matrix 6R synthesizer
1 Oberheim DPX-1 sample player
1 Akai S900 digital sampler
1 Hill Multi mix
1 Alesis Midiverb II
1 Alesis Microlimiter
1 Alesis Micro Cate
1 Alesis Micro Enhancer

2. Electronics Rack #2

1 Simmons SDX sampler/workstation
1 Simmons SDE synthesizer module

3 Simmons MTX9 Percussion Modules
1 Korg KMX 722 Line Mixer

1 Korg SDD 300 Digital Delay
1 Ibanez MSP 1 000 multi-signal processor
1 QSC model 7200 stereo power amp

3. Cymbals and Gongs Rack \

1 pair Paiste 500 series 18" Band cymbals
1 pair Paiste 2000 series China-type cymbals
1 Paiste Sound Creation Cong #2 (20.5")

1 Paiste Sound Creation Gong #4 (24")

1 Paiste Sound Creation Gong #7 (20")

1 Paiste 30" Earth Gong
1 Paiste 2000 series 8" splash

1 Paiste 3000 series 8" bell

3 Wuhan opera gongs (11", 13", 16")

2 Paiste gong mallets

4. KAT MIDI Mallet Controller (1 octave)

5. Six Simmons SDX trigger pads

6. LP bell tree

7. Ross orchestra bells

8. Deagan vibraphone with Deagan transducers

9. Hand-percussion Table

1 each: Acme siren, police whistle, duck
call, crow call, goose call, cuckoo call,
nightingale call, quail call, Carroll Sound pop
gun, taxi horn, ratchet

Several of each: homemade shakers, Remo
tambourines, Ludwig tambourines, LP cowbells,
Brazilian samba whistles and bird calls, air
tubes

LP plastic maracas
LP Clackers

10. Simmons Silicon Mallet (4 octave)

11. Simmons Silicon Mallet (3 octave)

Microphones: Beyer M500 Ribbon Microphone
and M88 dynamic microphone

Sticks and mallets: Vic Firth 5A sticks; Vic Firth
M2and M3 mallets

Setup designed and built with Chuck Becker

around, general
players who are in¬
terested in getting into
the whole thing. More and
more are coming in as spe¬
cialists. It's not just with music; in
general, people seem to be deciding
what specific career they want to pursue before they even enter col¬
lege. It's an '80s thing.

"I don't know how accurate my perception of this is," Ed says. "I
only see one very small group of students who come to one very
esoteric arts school, and I'm only involved with the school peripher¬
ally. John Bergamo could probably provide more information about
this. From what I've seen, he does his best to free the students of any
preconceived ideas they may have about percussion playing and
music in general, and eventually get them into musical situations
they probably never dreamed of. That's pretty valuable if you can
afford to do it—take some chances and delve into some new areas
to help you decide what you like and what you don't like."

And perhaps that's the connection between mridangam and elec¬
tronics. When Ed first came to CalArts, he was taught to be open to
new possibilities, whatever they may be. "I had no idea what a
mridangam was," he says, "or gamelan, or any of that stuff. It all
kind of hit me right in the face. So yeah, that could be true. My mind
was opened up to exploring all the possibilities. Compared to mri¬
dangam, electronics weren't all that mysterious. There were a lot of
other people involved in it that you could talk to about it, and all of
the instruments came with manuals."

Another mind-opening experience for Ed was his involvement in
the CalArts percussion ensemble, which evolved into the Repercus¬
sion Unit—a group that has continued to this day. They released a
critically-acclaimed album on CMP records in 1988, titled In Need
Again, and have recently been in the studio preparing their next
release. "We went to Germany in May and did four days of track¬
ing," Ed explains. "Whereas In Need Again was made up of actual
composed pieces, this one will consist of a different kind of material
that we've been developing ever since we first played together. It's
completely improvisational—not rehearsed, not arranged. Basically,

continued on page 52

Ed Mann
Setup

(Zappa Band
1988 )

MODERN DRUMMER

One look at Steve Riley and there's no doubt that he's in a heavy metal band—the long
black hair, the black painted fingernails—but there is an abundance underneath the
exterior that is impossible to know until a lengthy conversation has been had. First off,
Steve's passion is jazz, and if the truth be known, he wishes that genre of music were
financially lucrative for him. That's the other thing about Steve that is interesting: He's
been able to see heavy metal music as a job—one he enjoys, but a job nonetheless.

In the thickest of Boston accents, Steve talks about the several record deals he's had
throughout the pursuit of the ideal situation. From Keel to WASP, and now with L.A. Guns,
Steve has found his niche in heavy metaldom. He's made money and lost money, had high
expectations and had his hopes dashed, meeting with large doses of the reality of
disappointment that goes with the music business. And he has discovered that it is a
business. Openly, he shares the lessons learned and insights gathered through his many
trials and tribulations.

Steve

RF: I understand that you are a heavy jazz
fan.

SR: Big time. I started off playing jazz. My
mom and dad turned me on to Gene Krupa
and Buddy Rich when I was growing up in
Boston. I was about four or five years old. I
saw The Gene Krupa Story with Sal Mineo,
and that was that. I bought a lot of Krupa
and Buddy Rich duo records, so I started
playing drums before Ringo and all of that.
It was Ringo who turned me on to the
whole rock scene, but I got my feet wet
with jazz.

RF: How were you learning to play?

SR: By myself. I used to live in the projects
in Boston, and a guy who lived across from
us gave me my first pair of sticks and started
showing me how to play a little bit. I did
the marching band trip when I was six and
seven. They taught me a couple of rudi¬
ments and stuff like that.

RF: So when you were listening to records,
what were you doing?

SR: I was zeroing in on what the drummers
were doing. I only had a snare drum, and
then I got a hi-hat and then a kick drum.
Because there were so many kids in my
family, it was one piece at a time. But I was
really zeroing in with my ear. I learned on
the snare first, and then after the kick and
hi-hat, I really didn't need much.

Then I started listening to Ringo, Charlie
Watts, John Bonham, and
Ginger Baker. That

\\&y

was when I started being able to play with
some kids on the block. I slowly pulled
away from jazz—always listening to it, but
not playing it much, except on my own.
RF: Do you feel that jazz has helped you
along the way?

SR: Without a doubt, because coordination
in jazz is so much more critical. For any
drummer who can take the time to listen to
some jazz drummers, the wealth that can
be picked up is just insane. But mostly, it
gets coordination down. Rock drumming
really does seem manual after that because
it is just so 4/4, straight sitting on the beat.
Jazz is so free-form and coordinated that
every drummer should do it.

RF: What was your first professional gig?
SR: It was with a band in Boston in the
'60s, at a disco called the Ball Of Confu¬
sion. I was about 12 years old, and I had to
stay in the kitchen when the set ended. The
rest of the guys were old enough to drink
beer. I was always hanging with guys much

older than me, like a five- or six-year differ¬
ence.

RF: When did you decide to make drum¬
ming your career?

SR: I was so impressed by the drums them¬
selves, I wasn't even thinking about ending
up in a rock band. I was thinking mainly,
"Someday I'm going to be able to play as
good as Buddy Rich or Gene Krupa." It
didn't change until I started doing those
gigs at 12 or 13, thinking, "Well, maybe I
could do this for a living." But when I was
first playing, I was just consumed with
wanting to learn.

RF: When you finally figured that you might
do this for your livelihood, what was the
plan?

SR: I was mostly concentrating on playing
every day. That's what I still concentrate
on, and that's what I tell kids who come up
and ask for suggestions. It's just, "Keep play¬
ing."

So I played with all the club bands in
Boston, doing cover material: Stones,
Beatles, Cream, Blind Faith—that late '60s
stuff. That's why I am very impressed with
Charlie Watts and Ringo; they came up
with the beats. They weren't flashy, but
they never dropped a beat; they were al¬
ways there. When somebody has that many
hit singles, you have to look at the drum¬
mer; Charlie and Ringo were playing that
backbeat.

RF: Did you think you might have to leave
Boston in order to succeed?

SR: The last couple of years of high school,

I knew I was going to have to go, and I was
figuring out how I was going to break it to
my folks. They were very supportive, obvi¬
ously, because they let me play in their
house every day for years, so they knew
something was going to come down. But

MODERN DRUMMER

they wanted all of
us to go to college.

My dad wanted to
send me to the New
England Conservatory,
and I could have taken that route where
I'd learn how to be a real learned mu¬
sician, to read and write charts and do
that kind of a trip; or I was going to
have to take this trip that was a little
harder and more gritty. When I was in
my senior year, a good friend of mine,
Frank Dimino, was in Angel, and it
was the first time I saw anybody get¬
ting out of Boston, playing the clubs
and cities outside of Boston. So as soon
as I got my diploma, I was gone. I went to
D.C., then New York, then back to D.C.,
and then I started moving across country.
RF: What was happening inside your head
while you were doing all this?

SR: I was totally relentless. I still am. I
won't let anything bring me down or allow
any roadblocks to freak me out. I got past
that. At first I thought New York was the
music center, and I realized very quickly
that L.A. is really the center for sessions, for
the studios, for meeting the managers and
record producers. So my objective was to

oing

end up in Los Angeles. I
knew I was going to go
to Chicago, Indianapolis,
back to New York and D.C.,
and even to Salt Lake City.
RF: What were you doing while you
were living in these cities?

SR: Playing in different bands. I've
been in a few in my time. I'm talking
about at least eight cities where I set
up shop. Obviously I would call
ahead, or they were turned
on to me through
other musi¬
cians, and
they'd make
an offer. I
ended up in In¬
dianapolis in '76 with Roadmasteron Mer¬
cury Records. That was my first album,
though I had done tons of demos at the end
of the '60s and early '70s all over Boston,
D.C., and New York. There were strange
demos, rock demos, and fusion demos,
which were the most fun.

If I had stayed in Indianapolis, though, I
don't think I would have been as hungry. I
would have really calmed down and laid
back, figuring, "Hey, we're doing another

Ofy

record, that's fine." So it was a big move
when I came to LA. There was a guy wait¬
ing for me who had been in a band on
Casablanca. He was no longer with them,
but he said he had a whole bunch of con¬
nections and said, "Wanna take a stab at
it?" It was '77, and I never left. I moved
back to Chicago to play the scene back
there, but I always kept my place here.

So it turned out that he had slight con¬
nections, which was good enough to just
get my feet wet, but it was still really hard
times. From '77 to '79, it was pretty diffi¬
cult. I did some sessions and demo work
around here and played in some club bands,
but it was tough. I would suggest to any
musician coming to Los Angeles to make
sure there is at least something waiting for
you, some kind of setup. I did it the hard
way. I thought there was something wait¬
ing, but there really wasn't. But I grinded it
out for two years, doing everything, play¬
ing and living in a commune—all of that
thing. I could get by on five bucks, but I
was still playing every day. I had my drums
set up somewhere every day. Then '79

by Robyn Flans

MODERN DRUMMER

ing for that time when I've
made enough money so I
can do a solo LP and not
worry if the thing sells, and
hire musicians like Stanley
Clarke, Jeff Beck, and a key¬
board player like Chick
Corea, and just go for it. I
know I can write material
for an album like that be¬
cause I'm really into it, but it
will be a while before I get
there. That's where I'm
headed, though. It would be
nice not to have to worry
about sales.

RF: Let's get back to the
trudge up to artistic expres¬
sion. The Steppenwolf thing
ended, and then what?

SR: The lead singer for that
was Tom Holland; we both
knew each other from those
two years in L.A. We came
back to Los Angeles, and he
called me and told me about
a band called the Boyzz from
Illinois. They had been
signed already, but they were
re-forming and changing
their name. They took the "oy" out and
called it the Bzz, which was a difficult
name to pronounce. But he called and said
they were close to a deal with CBS, and I
joined the Bzz in '81. I moved to Chicago,
although I kept my apartment here in L.A.,
and I did that for about a year and a half. It
was the first time I realized there were other
people involved with our careers. If you
don't have a good manager, you're screwed.

I think the band really had a chance to do
something. There was a strong single, and
the producer, Tom Werman, was gung ho
behind the band and so was the label, but
there wasn't anybody manning the phone,
a killer manager. A lot has to do with that,
and it was an important realization. The
Bzz died slowly but surely, and I came
back to L.A. around '84 and got back into
doing some sessions.

RF: How did you get into sessions?

SR: I just did it on my own. I put an ad in
every trade, I answered every ad, and per¬
sonally went to check everything out. If
you just check them out long enough, you'll
find something, some kind of session, even
if it's not great paying. It will put you be¬
hind a kit to play. That's the main thing.
Living in an apartment, I was trying to find
a place to play, so I'd go to these places
where they said they were just putting to¬
gether bands, or doing demos where they
could slide me 50 bucks. That was the
beginning of'84, and I was doing this one
session, and the bass player said, "I know
of this gig, and you should call the lead
singer and tell him you're in town and
you're looking for a gig." He was talking
about Ron Keel of Keel. I asked the bass
player, "Does he have a drummer?" He
said, "Yes, but I think he wants to get rid of
him. He's already done an independent

rolled around and the original bass player
in Steppenwolf, Nick St. Nicholas, called.
Something happened with that band where
all five members owned the name, so when
it broke up, each member took out a band
on his own saying it was Steppenwolf,
which was pretty strange. But he asked me
to come out and offered me $ 100 a show
to play every night every week with an
extra $100 a week, which was going to be
like $800 a week, and in '79 I was think¬
ing, "Whoa!" Their drummer had split real
quick, and they had this whole tour booked.
I stayed for two years. I was glad to be in
the money all of a sudden, but at the same
time, I knew it was a dead end. I was doing
an oldies show. It was all old Steppenwolf
hits, like "Magic Carpet Ride" and "Born
To Be Wild." The money was great, but at
the end of the second year, I wanted to be
branching out.

RF: What was it you were aiming for, what
was the goal along the way?

SR: I've always been into musicians be¬
cause of what I was listening to at a very
early age. I've always been into "no holds
barred musicians." I really respect Jeff Beck
because he never tires himself out playing
one kind of music. He keeps changing. He
went from blues to rock and fusion, and he
keeps going. I have a ways to go before I
get recognized like that, but I would like to
model myself after someone like Jeff Beck,
where I could keep going from style to
style, not being just a rock drummer or a
fusion drummer. I would like to do a coun¬
try gig, a blues gig, and everything. The
niche I'm in right now is definitely the
bombastic heavy drummer, and I can do
that so easily. It's easy to do if you've been
playing drums as long as I have, and it
should be an easy gig. But I'm still search-

A. 6 1/2 x 14 bell brass snare

B. 13 x 14 rack tom

C. 16 x 16 floor tom

D. 16 x 18 floor tom

E. 16 x 26 bass drum

F. 26" timpani

Cymbals: Zildjian.

1. 15" heavy hi-hats

2. 20" heavy crash

3. 20" heavy crash

4 . 22" ping ride

5 . 19" heavy crash

6. 20" heavy crash

7. 48" gong

Hardware: Drum Work¬
shop hi-hat and bass drum
pedals.

Heads: Remo CS (black
dot) heads on snare drum
and tops of all toms (no
muffling), Remo Ebony
Ambassadors on bottoms
of toms. Remo coated
Ambassador on bass drum
batter head, and Ebony
Ambassador on front.
(There is one strip of felt on
each head and a 1" piece
of foam in the bottom of
the drum for muffling.)
Sticks: Pro-Mark 2B model,
played with the butt end.

DrumsetTama Artstarl 1
in custom green sparkle
finish.

MODERN DRUMMER

album, and he's getting ready
to do another album for A&M
with Gene Simmons produc¬
ing." So I called Ron Keel
and said, "You should kick
your drummer out. I'll blow
him out the door," or some¬
thing like that. I got really
ballsy on the phone.

RF: Couldn't you have
rubbed him the wrong way
with that kind of arrogance?

SR: Yes, but I just went for it.

The bass player had said he
knew I would get the gig, so
I should act like it. So Ron
said, "My drummer is out of
town for a couple of days, so
why don't you come by to¬
night?" I stuck my drums in
the van and went right over,
and I got the gig that night.

They played the album for
me, and I don't know, maybe
it's from playing so long, but
I have learned how to lock
into a song immediately. I
worked on that for a long
time, how to sit and listen to
a song and be able to play
right away. So I listened to it
and played it, and it was pretty basic metal.
Metal was very big right then, and it was
right up that alley. It showed me that if you
think you can do it, call up and say, "I can
do that. You should do yourself a favor and
let me come over and play for an hour." Be
a little cocky about it. Get behind yourself
a little bit.

RF: The story goes you had something like
three days to learn this record?

SR: Yes, it was strange. I got the gig that
first night, and Gene Simmons came in the
second night. I knew Gene from back in
77 and 78, because the band I was with
was trying to get him involved. It never
worked, but I had met him and we had
become friends. So that was really cool
that we knew each other, and he said, "Are
you going to be able to do this?" We were
supposed to go in in a few days and I said,
"Yes, I'll be ready."

RF: What did you do to get ready?

SR: I went home and listened to the tapes
over and over again. I went into rehearsal
each day for the next few days and I did it.
They didn't have a big budget, so we went
into the Record Plant, and Barbra Streisand
was in the room we were supposed to be
in, and she was going overtime. I kept look¬
ing at the clock because I knew they wanted
me to do my tracks boom, boom, boom,
right in a row. I didn't get in there to get my
drum sounds until about 1:00 in the morn¬
ing, so around 3:00 in the morning I did a
quick soundcheck and I did all my tracks
that night—11 tracks right in a row. I grinded
it out. It was me and Gene in there, and I
even did four or five tracks without guitars
in there. I knew I had to do it, though.

RF: Which album was that?

SR: That was The Right To Rock, the first

album they did. Gene and I were doing all
the backgrounds on it too, because Gene
sings great, obviously, and he said I had a
good range to sing a lot of the backgrounds.

I was supposed to sign contracts for band
and management with Keel the next day
after doing the backgrounds, when I got a
call at the Record Plant while we were on
a break. The guy said, "I can't tell you who
I am." And I said, "Why?" And he said,
"Because I know you're in there doing this
album right now with Gene and Ron, and I
don't want to screw that up." Here I am in
the lounge area with the whole band there
and he says, "How would you like to do a
world tour with a world-class act?" I said,
"Who are you talking about?" He said,
"Believe me, it's a world-class act and it's
going to be big." I said, "I'm supposed to
sign management contracts tomorrow, so
you'd better tell me who you are." He said,
"Why don't you call me when you get
home from the studio." It was Blackie Law¬
less. He told me he had heard through the
grapevine how I came in and did the Keel
album on such short notice. He told me
they had just let their drummer go after
doing the first album, and they had two
weeks for some drummer to come in, get
the look down, learn the whole show, and
start to fit in before going to England.

RF: Was he offering you band member¬
ship?

SR: He said it would be on a contingency
basis. I would do the world tour, and we'd
evaluate it with management and every¬
one, and I'd become a member when we
got back to the States. That didn't sound so
good; I would have rathered they just em¬
brace me, but that wasn't going to happen.
So all of a sudden I had two cool things

happening. It looked like a good package
with Keel, with Simmons and Danny Gold¬
berg running the show. I had done a gig
with them, too, in that short span, and they
had gone over really well. There was a big
to-do about them. Then Blackie called and
I made the decision to do the WASP thing.
I had seen WASP two weeks before that,
and I knew they were missing something. I
knew they had something killer happen¬
ing, but there was also something missing.
They made it clear that it was the drum¬
mer, because they let him go. I saw the
press they were getting, and they told me
about the record deal and showed me their
offices, and it was a step up from what Keel
was doing at the time. As a career deci¬
sion, I couldn't do anything but go with
WASP.

When I joined WASP and went on that
tour that year, the Keel album came out. I
got a copy sent to me, and there were the
five band members with the new drummer.
The last thing was "Duane Miller, drums
and vocals." Underneath that in small print,
it said "Steve Riley, additional drums and
vocals"—and I did the whole album. I felt
good about the fact that I came in and did
the job they asked me to do. They wanted
to do this album in a certain amount of
time, and I felt good about that, which was
the saving grace of the whole situation. But
it was a career decision. Nobody is going
to help you if you don't help yourself. I
have friends who have turned killer gigs
down thinking the band they were in was
going to happen. That loyalty thing is great
to a certain point, but you have to worry
about screwing yourself.

RF: So you joined WASP with two weeks to

confrrTLitff/ r>n 70

MODERN DRUMMER

Photo by Lynn McAfee

Alvin Stoller

has done it all on drums.

Alvin Stoller at the 1939 World's Fair, where he won the Gene Krupa
Drum Contest. Krupa is at right of photo.

Star of the big bands, jazz player, show percussionist,
recording musician, and studio man for films and television,
he has a background in music that exceeds most others, in depth and variety.

The love affair with drums began for Stoller when he was a small boy tn Brooklyn in the 1930s.

His intensity of interest grew as he got older.

The instrument ultimately gave his life depth and purpose
and provided a means for making a good living,
but money didn't enter into things when Stoller was a youngster.

Just playing was the thing.

by Burt Korall

MODERN DRUMMER

CK>-O-0

MODERN DRUMMER

Photo by Jaeger Kotos

vocal. The other side was 'Liza,' an instru¬
mental on which Chick opens up. His sound
and approach caught my attention. He did
so much for the band; his time was firm,
and his solos were a natural extension of
the music. He had great technique. But it
was his feeling that got to me. As far as I'm
concerned, feeling is one of the key as¬
pects of drumming, particularly jazz drum¬
ming.

"During that period, I also picked up a
lot by listening to remote broadcasts by the
big bands from hotels, ballrooms, and clubs.

They came from all over the
country, and that added to the
excitement."

It was inspiring to be in
New York in the 1930s, when
Stoller got his start as a drum¬
mer. The ambience provided
great motivation for the young
musician. "Music was in the air
in New York," Stoller reflects.
"It was everywhere. The bands
appeared at the presentation
theaters—the Paramount, the
Strand, the Capitol, the Roxy.
Harlem and Greenwich Village
were filled with music and musicians. It
didn't matter what part of town you were
in. Music was there to be enjoyed. And it
was real.

"For the aspiring drummer, there also
were the drum shops on Manhattan's 48th
Street, in downtown Manhattan, and in
Brooklyn. They were an inspiration. As soon
as I walked into one of them, I was drawn
to the drums and cymbals. I couldn't help
but touch them. Generally I used any ex¬
cuse to buy something—a pair of sticks or

Alvin

Stoller

As soon as he heard drums, he gave up
piano lessons and turned all his attention
to percussion. "I began banging on every¬
thing around the house. I drove my parents
crazy," Stoller remembers. "I even took the
stays out of my mother's corset and put
them together with rubber bands so I could
use them like a pair of brushes.

"My mother spoke to my piano teacher,
who suggested I take drum lessons. That
would determine whether my love was le¬
git and whether I had talent for the instru¬
ment. I began studying with Willy Kessler,

who played in theaters around town. We
were together for three years. He was a
beautiful man and a great teacher. He not
only gave me lessons, he gave me on-the-
job training. I would sit in the pit with him
) at the theater and watch while he played a
show. It was so helpful to me later when I
did stage shows and TV variety programs.

"I also learned by listening to records.
Chick Webb was my first influence. My
brother Teddy and I bought the Webb rec¬
ord 'A Tisket A Tasket' for Ella Fitzgerald's

Above: Paul Smith
(piano), Benny
Goodman (clarinet),
and Stoller perform¬
ing in Salt Lake City.

MODERN DRUMMER

brushes. So when I went home,

I retained the good feeling I
had in the store. In addition, a
drum shop was a place where
you could talk drums with oth¬
ers who loved to play. That
made you feel a part of the
scene.

"I didn't become active as a
drummer until I was 12.1 would
just listen to the bands rehearse,
occasionally play, look at the
drummers—that sort of rou¬
tine."

Stoller's first major job as a
professional—he was going on 13—was at
a resort in the Catskill Mountains in up¬
state New York. He worked there for a sum¬
mer, sleeping in the theater—the casino—
on the premises, as did the rest of the staff
of musicians and entertainers. He learned
how to play a show and how to back vari¬
ous kinds of performers. This, too, would
be very helpful later on.

When he returned home to Brooklyn, he
took the drum chair in his
brother Teddy's big band.

"Teddy was the pianist; we
used to play Count Basie stock
arrangements—'Shorty
George,' 'Jumpin' At The
Woodside,' 'One O'Clock
Jump'—and Benny Goodman
things as well," he explains.

"We'd work social clubs in
Brooklyn, dances—we used to
have a ball.

"There were a lot of great
young musicians coming along
at that time in Brooklyn and

MODERN DRUMMER

<^>- 0-0

Manhattan—trumpeter Tony Faso, saxo¬
phonist Sam Marowitz, guitarist Chuck
Wayne, my pal Shelly Manne. We all were
very enthusiastic. If one of us got a good
job, we were so proud. I remember when
Shelly got a job with Bob Astor's band, then
moved on to Bobby Byrne's band at the
Pennsylvania Hotel. It was a thrill."

Stoller won a drum contest at the New
York World's Fair in 1939. About 300 drum-

Above: Stoller at
the 3 Deuces Club
on 52nd St. with
(left to right)

Sandy Block,

Hank Jones, and
Charlie Shavers.

Below: Stoller on
the movie set for
The Fabulous Dorseys.

continued on page R2

This Is Tomorrow"

by Ed Mann

R ecently some friends and I recorded an album for CMP
records called Get Up. "This Is Tomorrow" is the first
tune off of Get Up and is the subject of this Sound Supplement.

Compositionally, "This Is Tomorrow" loosely reflects several
different influences, including South Indian drumming and rhyth¬
mic composition, rhythm "phasing" (a la composers Terry Riley,
Steve Reich, Philip Glass, and others), and mbira and kalimba
music from various parts of Africa. The final interpretation is
within the context of electronic/acoustic pop-jazz.

The seed of the tune is a 19-bar improvised rhythm/melody that
was originally drummed up on a KAT mallet controller into a

computer. (This was for observation and parts
printing only; there is no machine sequencing
involved in the final recorded performance.)

In order to turn this rhythm/melody into
material for a "tune," the "master lick" is bro¬
ken up into fragments, which gradually increase
in size and eventually lead to the entire 19-bar
phrase. (See fragment markings, Ex. A.) An eight-
bar condensed version (Ex. B) and an ending
pattern (C) follow.

The players use these fragments improvisa-
tionally to move through the tune in kind of a
"call and response" motion. Pattern B is played one bar out of
phase between the mallets and guitar to create a temporary (safe)
hypnotizing effect. Pattern C provides a steady rhythm ostinato for
the horns to play over. The only compositional indication to the
horns from the composer is to create contrast by playing long
tones and to build with the drummer. At this point it's important to
mention that all of the individuals who participated in this record¬
ing contributed creatively to the final performance. Thank you,
guys.

I hope you enjoy listening to this music as much as we did
creating it.

Example A

MODERN DRUMMER

ft! MD Sound Supplement &S§

(frag 6, 7, and 13-

>(end frag 9>-

{frag 5

yJ? J ? J ? J i=ii

j ILL . i|i | j |

it ii

F r F F W ** * M

fm " S *7 m m m */

r r j # 7 » v j

If 7 a * * a 1 7 na^z

^ j ? a ^ 7 m 7 7 j 7

>(end of it)

(frag 12-

MODERN DRUMMER

Drummers: If you would like to play this figure you may do so in
several different ways: (1) Play the actual rhythm on a single drum
or pad, hand to hand and with mixed sticking (your own). (2) Play

the rhythm/melody around a drumkit, simulating as best as pos¬
sible the melody and range by using different drums and playing
techniques. (3) "Imply" the rhythm/melody underneath a constant
time (ride) figure.

Example B

-jHhr*«—1

/L t

j% v

% J V

r J ^

— '

ffs " HI m

* w

^ » J I

1 *7 * #

m * * X *7 m

1 1

=m _ l m w ^

1 7 1

* * w d 7

d d m m ~ J

Example C

p n n \ n- .

] J i J i

j J-J 1

MODERN DRUMMER

£ Style And Concept by Chad Wackerman \

M any drummers have asked me how one creates a style.
That's a very difficult question to answer. Most of the
time, style seems to be a natural occurrence caused by the type of
music you have listened to, the type of things you dislike, and the
attitude and personality you put into your playing. With many
musicians it is not anything that is preconceived: They simply play
what they like to hear.

One truly great thing about playing music is that it changes all
the time, and everyone makes it sound different. You can hearten
different drummers play the same pattern, and no two will sound
exactly the same, no matter how simple the pattern. Like any art
form, what we consider to be "good" is a very personal thing.
What I might consider to be a brilliant performance you might
consider worthless. I, however, prefer that attitude to that of some
sports, where whoever is fastest is best.

Since in music faster doesn't necessarily mean better, we listen
to other things musicians play to decide what we like. It is their
style that separates them. Some people have extremely distinctive
styles. You know immediately who is playing without having to
see them.

What makes them sound so distinctive? Some people relate it to
the type of instrument and tuning they use (Tony Williams' ride
cymbal, Stewart Copeland's snare drum, etc.). That's not it, though.
A friend of mine who is a great guitarist came to an Allan
Holdsworth rehearsal, and Allan let him play his guitar through his
rig. Not only did the notes sound different, but it sounded as if all
of the equipment had changed as well!

So it's obviously something besides equipment; it's what you
play and what you don't play, the way you use your technique, the
way you strike a cymbal or drum, where you place each beat, the
balance between feet and hands—most of all, though, I believe it's
your concept.

Your technique is your musical vocabulary. You need technique
to be able to play anything you can think of musically. If you have
all of these creative ideas in your head, but you can't execute
them, they won't do you any good. There is no replacement for
long hard hours on the practice pad or set.

If you're at the point in your playing where you can play at least
most of the things you can think up, then the problem shifts to
what to play and where to play it. Now it is time to start thinking
more conceptually than technically.

One of the most obvious ways to distinguish between drummers
is the way they play fills. When I play with a band, I never
consciously play a practiced fill. The reason I don't is because by
the time I get to that fill, someone else in the band might have
played something just before it that will have made my fill inap¬
propriate. Worse, it will simply sound practiced.

So where do I get ideas for fills or solos? I often get them from
the piece of music that I'm playing, an idea may come from
something another musician is playing, or I may invent a phrase
that will fit into the style of the music. Now, if you decide to try to
play off some of the other band members, remember to use taste.
There is nothing more destructive and upsetting to a soloist than
another musician bashing out every little rhythmical phrase that
he or she can recognize. If I hear a rhythmical phrase played by
somebody in the band, I will often recognize it, but not play it in
unison with them. Rather, I will play a counterpart to it, play some
of the accents of their phrase (not all of them), or play some type of
answer to it.

In this month's Sound Supplement, you will hear a piece by Ed
Mann from his album, Get Up. I decided to approach this piece
with a basic groove, but also play random fills that relate to the
piece itself. Notice that the melody is very rhythmic, with mostly
16th-note subdivisions. Also note that there is lots of space where
the band is playing a groove in between the melody passages. I
tried to play fills that were related to the types of melodic rhythms

that Ed was playing. In this
type of playing situation,
you may also try to play
some of the actual rhythms
of the melody, but try to
think of them as short syn¬
copations that can be
shifted to start on any beat.

Displacing a short, recog¬
nizable rhythm a 16th note
or 8th note forward or back¬
ward from where it was
originally heard can create
some interesting fills. Also,
you can play part of a mel¬
ody or bass line in a fill,
actually "quoting" some¬
thing heard earlier in the
piece.

With all these ways to
play fills that will relate to
the music you're playing, you can now think about the way you're
going to orchestrate your fill. What I mean when I say "orches¬
trate" is to arrange the voices of the drumkit into long sounds,
short sounds, and high- to low-pitched sounds. You can then play
phrases accordingly, as a trumpet or guitar player might. Fast runs
(a dense flurry of notes) speak better on instruments with short
sounds such as snare drums, bass drums, timbales, and small,
quickly decaying cymbals. Sustained sounds—larger cymbals or
open, long decaying toms—are better for playing notes of longer
durations. A melodic instrument plays shorter-duration notes on a
fast run, and longer, more legato notes for larger note values.

Don't only play things that you get from other drummers. When
you practice, you can work on duplicating patterns from piano
players, guitarists, and other instrumentalists. It is a very simple
and easy concept, but you may find that categorizing all of the
instruments in your drumset according to their timbres will help
you come up with some very different fills.

When I played "This Is Tomorrow," I combined four different
concepts:

1. Groove playing

2. Linear drumming

3. Playing as a drummer and percussionist at the same time

4. Call and response playing

The first concept is very obvious: Play the

groove, beat, or pattern that will make the
piece feel good. This sets up the mood of the
piece. In some instances, this is all that is
necessary. In this tune, I played this funk
groove:

MUSIC KEY

Cup

Clvme

T T
SO

T T
B.D

TcitlE

n ,

Ft 4 -

n n n ,

1 M • 1

tf.. 4 • ■

3 ™ rh J

The second concept, linear drumming, is where most of the fills
come in. Often I don't keep my feet playing an ostinato pattern
and play a fill with my hands over it. Instead, I choose to incorpo¬
rate my feet into the "line" that I play. When playing in a linear
fashion, no two limbs hit together on the same count:

MODERN DRUMMER

cciftfmurc/ on next

Photo by Rick Malkin

Playing as a drummer and percussionist, I will utilize percussion
instruments or samples that are not drum-type sounds. The type of
things I play will sound more like an overdubbed percussion part,
in contrast to the linear concept. On this piece, I used two Paiste
cup chimes, a low-pitched electronic bass drum sample, and a
gunshot sample. The following is the type of rhythm I played on
the cup chimes over the groove pattern on "This Is Tomorrow":

t i Jil i J"3 ? JT. j j i

i— n

j* * T /

~r j *

[j s -r- •-

_____ 11

The call-and-response concept deals with the idea of taking
something already stated in the music and playing a fill that
answers back to it. Just as you can have a conversation with
another person, you can have the same type of situation musically.
You can spot quite a few examples of this in the Sound Supple¬
ment where I spontaneously played short fills that replied to some
of the shorter melodic phrases that Ed was playing.

Any time you play music that has "open spaces" or "open
sections" to it, there is room for interpretation. No two drummers
will sound alike playing a piece like this. Each has his own

concept, his own personality, and his own attitude that he puts
into the music. I find that most concepts are comprised of a list of
things not to play. If you know what not to play, you must then
create something to replace what you would have done. I men¬
tioned four basic concepts that I applied to this piece, but it would
have sounded different if I had changed the percentages of each
concept.

There are times when you only want one concept to prevail.
There are an endless number of unexplored concepts to confront
and an infinite amount of music that has yet to be uncovered. Next
time you find yourself playing the same old licks, try to give
yourself a new set of rules, and make some new statements in your
drumming!

Credits: 'This Is Tomorrow"

Written by Ed Mann.

Big Accumulator—ASCAP/Contemp Music—GEMA.
Produced by Ed Mann, Kurt Renker, and Walter Quintus.
Recorded by Walter Quintus at Ztudio Zerkall in West
Germany.

Musicians:

Ed Mann: marimba, vibes, orchestra bells, electronic mallets
with MIDI samplers and synthesizers, gongs.

Chad Wackerman: drums, cymbals, and
sampled percussion.

Doug Lunn: electric bass.

Mike Hoffman: electric guitar.

Walt Fowler: trumpet and flugelhorn.

Bruce Fowler: trombone.

{Iruimi

No matter
what styled?
of music yod
play, you’ll \
sound better
on a set of *
DW Drums.

f>rum Workshop, Inc72697 Lavery 0 , Unit Jf>/Ntvyliury Park, CA 91;

-if

* Aik. ■

Tl M m

Mill

• ijgjp ifepetiderit) ™

(Studio)

I had Wackerman - the dynamic
and innovative drummer behind
Frank Zappa. Chad's choice In
! drum sticks - Vic Firth 5B.

i#nr

Vic Firth, Inc.
323 Whiting Ave., Unit 8
Dedham, MA 02026

MODERN DRUMMER

pAjSTe

l>YlttUN Ml! NI>S (iOSlfN

IAN PAIGE

"They are like a whole new
generation ol cymbals - (or every
generation ol players. There is one
cymbal for every style of music r

RICKY LAWSON

"They sound wonderful, really.These
cymbals feel very natural and they
speak immediately"

FREDYSTUDER

“Making ihese cymbals is like
making music, it's art Wild these
sounds. Paisle jumped above its
own shadow into a complete new
cymbal world:

PIERRE FAVRE

"These cymbal sounds will inspire
drummers to lune Iheir instruments
accordingly.The sound of m drums
has lo be richer to complement
the cymbals "

TERRY BOZZIQ

"I've never heard anything like this’
These sounds are hypnotic,
it's a tug mystery."

STEVE JORDAN

"! am impressed by the dynamic
range. I can play soft and bring out
the actual beauty of the cymbal \ can
play loud and ii does not sound
harsh but just like a big wait of
sound Usually you can not
get both out of a cymbal"

ED MANN

“These cymbafs respond quickly
and evenly over a wide range.
Because the harmonics are so
clear.it is possible for the
diummenpercussrcnislto
create hew extremes
in sound and color:

RONALD SHANNON JACKSON

it's like when they went from black &
white to technicolor. These cymbal
sounds generate the same step."

JON HISEMAN

"Maivetous! Very musical
sounding cy mbals with a
beautiful transparency*

DANNY GOTTLIEB

"Congratulations! trs got to be (he
fullest range of sound I've ever
heard. Now there's an even wider set
of Iona I colors to choose from “

SHEILA E.

"Crispy, crispy, crispy They're like
nghi therein your lace, and Ido n'l
have to play them so hard"

STEWART COPELAND

"These cymbals speak very quickly,
with power and Ihey have dignity"

LARRY MULLEN JR.

The new cymbals give more
response and have more attack than
anything i ve played before'

BILLY HIGGINS

“Right, right, rightl Great jazz
cymbals! 1 don'I have to pul rivets in
these, they're already in there"

MARK HERNDON

"You know how it leeis when you
jus! get out of the shower and
you're nice and clean and fresh?
That's how i feet about these
n m cymbals. Brilliant!"

AL FOSTER

“You feel tike playing wilh these
cymbals.Ttiey've go! fantastic
stick rebound. They |ust swing
by themselves."

BILL BRUFORD

"Amazing instruments.They are
like an orchestra. Very lovely:

DAVID GARIBALDI

"Excellent! Outstanding cymbal
sounds. Oelinilely more volume,
moredeiinilion, a wider dynamic
range, the low end is a
remarkable improvement.

They just sound bigger

ALEX VAN HALEN

"I've wailed forafongtime for
a cymbal like this"

JEFF P0RCARQ

‘ Unbelievable! Gorgeous! It's goi
everything. This is Ihe biggest
cymbal innovation I've heard of in my
lifetime. Its a cymbal revolution,

CHADWACKERMAN

“These cymbals speak immediately,
and have a brilliant Shimmer at Ihe
very top end ol the sound. I have
never heard such beautifully rich
sounding cymbals before:

NICKQ McBRAIN

“Really serious cymbals. They've
got power, volume and real
precision and they've got l hat
magic It'sawinnerr

LEON MDUGU CHANDLER

‘This is the first cymbal that has
a wide dynamic range without
being over powering. Theycu!
through in all dynamic situations
with the same clarity In the
studio, they are fantastic."

JIM KELTNER

"They (eel like pretty old
cymbals. They feel like (hey have
already been broken in -
a beautiful, mellow, crystal kind of
sound, smooth and thin

For a copy Of our new brochure, write to us at Paisle America. 460 Attas Street, Brea, CA 92621

PRODUCT CLOSE-UP

The Black Max Pedal

The Black Max pedal, from XL Specialty
Percussion Products, bills itself as "The
World's Only Twin Eccentric Pedal." This
could be a double-edged claim. Does it
mean the pedal has two offset something-
or-others, or that it's twice as strange as any
other pedal? It does have more nuts, bolts,
set screws, springs, slots, and other me¬
chanical fittings than anything this side of
your old Erector set. So it might seem a bit
daunting upon first examination—some¬
thing along the lines of: "Do I play this
thing or try to disarm it?"

Not to worry; it really isn't all that com¬
plicated. As a matter of fact, a sheet of
instructions provided for me by the pedal's
designer, Luke Jacobson, starts off by say¬
ing: "Don't be afraid. The adjustments of
the Black Max are, for the most part, the
same as those of conventional pedals.
However, now, for the first time, each of
these adjustments is completely independ¬
ent [of the other]."

And just what kind of adjustments are
we talking about? Would you believe Beater
Stroke (the amount of stroke between the
beater's point of rest and the drumhead),
Spring Tension (as with standard pedals),
Spring Timing (when the concentrated
spring tension happens within the stroke),
Footplate Position (where the contoured
footplate sits atop the drive plate for maxi¬
mum foot comfort and power), Footplate
Stroke Length (five settings that adjust how
much the footplate depresses to achieve
each stroke), Footplate Angle at Impact
(which is just what it sounds like), and a
nifty additional feature called the Acoustic
Simulator (which I'll get into more later).
Add to these the variables of beater type
and beater height, and you have a pedal
that can achieve almost any conceivable
combination of actions for "that personal¬
ized feel." The intent of both Luke Jacob¬
son and XL's Neal Graham was to create a
pedal that could be absolutely all things to
all people—no small task, considering that

a bass drum pedal is perhaps
the single most personal piece
of hardware on any drummer's
kit, and no two drummers are
ever happy with the same one.

As a matter of fact, this re¬
view turned out to be an educa¬
tion in pedal design for me,
since I wound up reviewing a
"work in progress." No fewer
than three versions were sent to
me during the review process,
with various changes and im¬
provements made to each one.

By way of description, I'd
have to say that the Black Max
is a big pedal, at a time when
smaller, lighter pedals are more in vogue.
But it has to be big to incorporate all of its
mechanical features. The heelpiece of the
pedal is actually a part of the molded steel
baseplate, to which the yoke of the pedal is
attached. (As a result, the pedal cannot
fold up in any way, making it a bit cumber¬
some to pack up or carry.) The tension
spring is adjustable from above, which is
convenient, but the hoop clamp is tight¬
ened by a thumbscrew at the outside lower
right of the yoke. It's more convenient than
one under the footboard, but you still have
to get down pretty low to reach it. Other
than those two adjustments, all of the other
adjustments on the Black Max must be
made either sitting on the floor (if the pedal
is in place) or by removing the pedal from
the drum entirely. This can be a bit tedious
during the initial fine-tuning process, but
adjusting the Black Max is something like
setting up a rack system for the first time: It
takes forever to get it right, but once you
do, it's that way for good. An Allen wrench
is supplied with the pedal; you'll also need
a small slotted screwdriver and a small cres¬
cent wrench to complete all your adjust¬
ments.

The footplate is a contoured and grooved
piece of high-impact plastic that can slide
backwards and forwards on the steel plate
that actually drives the pedal. This particu¬
lar adjustment is for comfort only; it has no
real effect on the action of the pedal since
the steel drive plate remains the same length
no matter where the footplate is adjusted. I
found one small problem with the footplate:
Its deep grooves and non-slip surface tended
to grab the sole of my shoe, making it
difficult to play double strokes with a
"glancing" motion. Not everyone plays that
way, so not everyone would experience
that problem, but it's worth noting. I'd like
to see XL offer a smooth, non-grooved foot¬
board as an option.

I made a little dig earlier about the "Twin
Eccentric" name; I should explain that what

it really refers to is the heart of the Black
Max's drive action: twin eccentric cams
that are adjustable in their relationship to
one another. Where most pedals have a
spring that pulls against a single cam (thus
turning the pedal's axle), the Black Max's
spring attaches to a drive strap wound
around two cams that are independently
adjustable. Depending on how you posi¬
tion these cams, you can get a spring pull
that would tow a semi, or a fairly light
spring response that requires only a gentle
touch to swing the beater. Add to this the
fact that you can adjust where, in the
beater's stroke, the spring tension hits maxi¬
mum, and you see that the Black Max could
serve a rock stamper or a jazz lightfoot
equally well.

Luke's introduction mentioned the inde¬
pendence of the Black Max's adjustments.
That's the feature of the pedal that most
appealed to me. I hate it when I have the
beater throw, pedal travel, and spring ten¬
sion just perfect on my current pedal, and
then a strap stretches or breaks. Putting on
a new strap changes the pedal travel and
the beater throw, so I have to change the
spring tension to accommodate them. Con¬
sequently, everything is uncomfortable un¬
til the new strap stretches to a certain point
and my foot gets used to the pedal all over
again. With the Black Max, this cannot
happen. First of all, the drive strap is a
fiber-reinforced rubber material, somewhat
similar to auto fan belts. It's not as likely to
break as leather straps, nor as likely to
stretch as woven nylon—yet it doesn't feel
as rigid as a chain. Second, every element I
discussed—beater throw, pedal travel,
spring tension, etc.—can be set independ¬
ently from the other. This means that you
can determine how far your beater moves
from its resting point to the drumhead and
how far the pedal depresses in order to get
it there; that isn't determined by how long
your drive strap is. Pedal angle at impact
can also be adjusted, giving just the right
footboard angle for maximum comfort and
power.

The Acoustic Simulator is a device that
Luke created with the idea of the pedal
being used on electronic kick drum pads.
Many drummers have complained that play¬
ing against an electronic kick is very much
like playing against a brick wall. So Luke
fitted the Black Max with a spring-loaded
feature that allows the beater to "flex" upon
impact. This gives a more natural feel when
playing against a hard surface, and pro¬
vides an added benefit when playing an
acoustic drum: Since the beater can "flex,"
it doesn't come to a dead stop against the
drumhead (which can serve to choke off
the head). The result is a noticeable in-

MODERN DRUMMER

crease in low end and resonance from the
bass drum. Drummers who like to "play
into" their drumheads and so wouldn't want
their beaters to flex could simply disengage
the Acoustic Simulator; they would still have
the option to use it if they happened to
play an electronic kick drum. And for those
who would have absolutely no use for such
a feature, a lower-priced version of the Black
Max is available without it.

Another unique feature of the Black Max
is its Backcheck. Originally, this was a non-
adjustable lobe used to stop the motion of
the driveshaft (and the swingback of the
beater) upon the pedal's return. I found
that this device stopped the return of the
beater in such an abrupt way that it inter¬
fered with my footwork on the pedal. Like
most drummers (I believe), I rely on the
return action of the beater to put the foot¬
board in the right place for my next down-
stroke. The timing of my footwork is based
on this. When the first couple of Black Max
versions didn't return in the manner I was
familiar with, I couldn't get any quickness
from them; they seemed slow and heavy in
their action. Luke must have received this
same response from several other drum¬
mers from whom he was gathering input,
because he came up with a way to over¬
come the problem. The new version incor¬
porates a spring (separate from the pedal's
drive spring) that still controls the return of
the beater, but does not stop it abruptly.
With this adaptation, I found the pedal
much more natural and comfortable to play.
It may be that the earlier version was more
mechanically efficient in theory, but some¬
times a designer has to adapt theory to suit
the idiosyncrasies of the consumer. The
newer version of the Black Max has done
just that, and it now feels wonderful to use.
(For the sake of clarification, I should point
out that our photo shows one of the earlier
versions; all current models will incorpo¬
rate the new return feature.)

I can't say that the Black Max is the
perfect bass drum pedal; there are just too
many drummers out there who demand
different things from their pedals for any
one product to be perfect. But I can say
that the Black Max is the most versatile,
adjustable, and user-friendly pedal I've
come across. It's a bit big and awkward to
carry, and it will exasperate you for a while
until you master the subtleties of its adjust¬
ments. But once you've gotten everything
tweaked just the way you like it, I think
you'll have a friend for life. Owing to the
last-minute design changes I mentioned,
list pricing for the Black Max had not been
established as we went to press. However,
by the time you read this, the pedal should
be available at your local retail drum shop.
In the meantime, you can get more infor¬
mation directly from XL Specialty Percus¬
sion, P.O. Box 8304, Ft. Wayne, Indiana
46898.

—Rick Van Horn

The Vruk

For years, I've been wondering why some¬
one hasn't developed a bass drum pedal
you can play with your heel as well as your
toes. (If you're like me, you've probably
noticed that you can do certain things faster
and more accurately with your heel.) Re¬
cently, to my surprise, I came across a
unique new invention from England called
the Vruk that comes very close to that con¬
cept.

The Vruk is an add-on heel plate that
attaches to any normal bass drum pedal
about two-thirds of the way down the
footplate, with no modification needed. A
bent steel spring underneath this heel plate
enables the player to depress the pedal
with a heel action, thus transferring force
towards the beater and striking the drum.
Normal playing with the front of the foot is
not affected. This facilitates a heel-to-toe
technique that makes playing doubles, trip¬
lets, or merely faster bass drum patterns
very easy. There is a trade-off, though, in
that a slight adjustment in your playing
technique might be necessary to employ
the heel-to-toe method. If you already play
in this manner, the Vruk will be easier to
master.

The Vruk was invented by Vuk Vukovic,
a 31-year-old Yugoslavian drummer cur¬
rently living in England. At the age of 16,
Vuk was playing Bulgarian and Macedonian
folk music with a Yugoslavian band that in¬
corporated many odd time signatures into
their music. Normally, the rhythmic pat¬
terns are played on the snare drum, but he
tried to split them between bass drum and
snare. Some parts of the music were very
fast, and it was not possible for him to play
the pedal that quickly. One day—while
watching an old movie with Fred Astaire
doing his marvelous tap-dancing—Vuk
came up with the main principle of the
Vruk. Lack of funds put the idea to rest for a
while, but later, after developing various
prototypes, Vuk found a partner in engi¬

neer James Reed. The first finished Vruk
came out of the die in late 1988.

Vuk sent me one of his models to
try, along with a demonstration video
of himself using the Vruk in a drumkit
application. Vuk's demo was on a twin-
bass kit, with Vruks attached to both
pedals. The result was accurate double-
stroke rolls on the two bass drums—a
feat that could never be accomplished
in the normal manner.

A bit of practicing is required with
the Vruk in order to get used to the
minor technique change needed. Vuk
told me that to get to the level demon¬
strated on the video took him five
months. Therefore, the possibilities with
the Vruk depend solely upon the
drummer's initiative to work with it. I've
had the Vruk with me for a few months,
and am beginning to get it down with only
intermittent practice. From watching the
video, and working on the technique my¬
self, I've found that the Vruk allows double¬
bass-drum effects to be played on one bass
drum quite easily. The Vruk is not a short¬
cut to faster playing, but rather an aid to
inducing faster patterns with less strain. (The
Vruk can also be attached to a hi-hat pedal,
and will work in the same manner as on a
bass drum pedal.)

The Vruk has patent applications in sev¬
eral countries, and is currently available in
English drum shops. A U.S. distributor is
currently being sought. The unit is avail¬
able in aluminum finish or in black at retail
prices of £40 and £44, respectively (ap¬
proximately $72 and $79 U.S.). All told,
the Vruk is a relatively inexpensive drum
pedal accessory that opens up a wealth of
possibilities for drummers to create new
and interesting rhythmic patterns on the
drumkit. Vuk Vukovic has invented a to¬
tally new product, and I hope someone in
the U.S. picks up on the Vruk to unleash
upon American drummers. For more infor¬
mation, contact Vruk International Ltd., 112
Longhill Road, Catford, London, SE6 1UA,
England.

—Bob Saydlowski, Jr.

continued on

SSrums mi SALE

Says It All...

GIGANTIC

SAVINGS

Get on Mailing List
748 Robinwood Drive (College Plaza)
Hagerstown, MD 21740-6509

1-301-733-DRUM (3786)

MODERN DRUMMER

The Upbeat

Pedal

This particular review is a little out of the
ordinary for this department, since the sub¬
ject is not yet a commercially available
product. But since we have another device
designed to achieve the same results—and
yet totally different in concept—reviewed
elsewhere in this issue, it seemed appropri¬
ate to include the Upbeat pedal at this
time.

Designed by an inventor who goes by
the name of Jib, the Upbeat pedal is a fairly
conventional-looking bass drum pedal that
has been adapted to create a beater strike
on both the downstroke and the upstroke
as well—hence its name. The essential
operational elements of the pedal that make
this double-action possible are a double¬
spring, double-pull linkage system and
footplate attachments for securing the heel
and toe to the pedal's footboard.

The principle of the Upbeat pedal is
simple: The player secures his or her foot
to the footboard using the over-the-toe toe

DRUM

TUNING

send $7.95 +

$1.00 shipping & handling to:
DRUMSTIX PUBLISHING
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WIL M IMG TON, DE 19809-9916

stop and the adjustable heel stop, and then
plays the pedal with a flat-footed style, rock¬
ing the foot at the ankle. A step down pro¬
duces one beat; lifting the foot back up
produces a second beat.

The execution of this principle is not
quite as simple as it sounds; it does require
that the player have complete facility with
a flat-footed (or more familiarly, "heel-
down") technique. Also, it helps to have a
fairly large foot, since the leverage achieved
by a longer foot makes it easier to get a
powerful beat on the upstroke. Jib has made
the foot-locking device adjustable, and has
also provided different footboard-travel set¬
tings at which double strokes may be
achieved, but I still had to move my fairly
small foot through a pretty wide up-and-
down arc to get the Upbeat stroke. I nor¬
mally play both heel-down (at low vol¬
ume) and heel-up (for power), but I still
was uncomfortable at first with the ankle
movement this pedal required. However,
any totally new device requires new tech¬
niques to operate it, and I'm sure that with
enough time, I could adapt my playing style
to achieve some dramatic results with this
pedal.

I mentioned the varied footboard settings.
By simply lifting the lower end of the foot¬
board up a bit, the entire footboard can
slide in or out of four slots. Depending on
which slot is chosen, you can have single¬
stroke (downstroke) action only, two set¬
tings at which singles or doubles can be
played (depending on how far up you lift
your foot), and one setting at which virtu¬
ally only double strokes can be played. (At
this setting, its possible to play pretty re¬
spectable single-stroke rolls on the bass
drum.)

Jib has included an interesting option in
the design of his pedal. Rather than have
one beater holder, the Upbeat pedal is fit¬
ted with two, and they are slightly offset.

By using two beaters at the same time, it is
possible to achieve a flam effect on the
bass drum. Whether this effect is desirable
is up to the individual player, of course. I
wouldn't use it except for extremely open,
1-and-3 downbeat patterns, but it does
produce a very thick bass drum sound that
might work well in those situations.

The aspect of the Upbeat pedal that I
have the most problem with is power. Since
the linkage is sprung, there is no point at
which the beater is actually held against
the drumhead by direct force—no "dead
stop point," in other words. I found that,
even with practice, I was unable to achieve
the kind of volume and power on a totally
acoustic bass drum that I require. How¬
ever, power would probably not be a prob¬
lem on a drum that was miked up, and
certainly wouldn't on any electronic kick
drum or acoustic bass drum fitted with elec¬
tronic triggering. Given the speed that this
pedal could offer when mastered, I could
easily see it fitting in to a number of styles
of music that call for machine-gun bass
drum patterns using electronic sounds. Rap
music immediately comes to mind.

As I said, the Upbeat pedal is not actu¬
ally on the market at the moment. (As a
matter of fact, our photographs are of Jib's
hand-made prototype.) Jib has been seek¬
ing a manufacturer within the drum indus¬
try for some time. His design is radical, so
he has met—not surprisingly—with resis¬
tance so far. But his concept is an interest¬
ing one, and in light of other recent devel¬
opments along the same line, might merit
closer examination by a forward-looking
drum or hardware company. In the mean¬
time, individuals who are interested in
communicating with Jib about his Upbeat
pedal design can reach him at 667 Osceola
Avenue, Winter Park, Florida 32789.

— Rick Van Horn

MODERN DRUMMER

HOW I MIC DRUMS

... DAVID MORGAN

TOURING HOUSE
SOUND ENGINEER FOR
WHITNEY HOUSTON
AND PAUL SIMON.

Shot on location, Whitney Houston Concert, Madison Square Garden, New York.

Tm using Shure'sSM98 more
and more because it helps me
get that natural drum sound and
the mic adds no 'color' of its own.
Its small size doesn’t obscure
the audience’s view of the drum¬
mer and means the mic is less
likely to get hit by drumsticks.

‘‘I prefer the warm natural
sound you get with condensers.
That's why I like the rich lows
and low-mids I get with the SM98
on tom-toms. Plus it’s rugged
enough to stand up to road
abuse.

“To get the fat sound I want, I
position the mic about three fin¬
gers distance off the drum head
and aim it toward the center to
avoid unwanted rim harmonics.

"To minimize leakage from
adjacent drums, 1 use Shure's
A98SPM polar modifiers to get
the isolation a supercardioid
provides. I’ve found that combi¬
nation works great overhead on
the high hat as well. With the
pattern control the modifiers
provide, it’s like having two mics
in one.

"For area miking of percus¬
sion instruments, l prefer the
SM81 because of its extended
flat frequency response. And the
SM57 still is my first choice on
snare and guitar amps.”

If you’re looking for answers
to your miking problems, start
where David Morgan does—
with Shu re.

Call for a free copy of Shure's
full line Microphone/Circuitry
Catalog. Call 1-800-257-4873
(In Illinois 1-800-624-8522).

ON TOUR WITH SH URE

E 1

E C T

R O N 1

1C R E V 1 1

E W

Different Drummer

Example 1

6 File Edit Windows Pattern Jam Song Instruments

6/8 Number 5

i j hrm®

|fi / b|

fey

Hat Open

KCl

(:;>)[ Hi Hat Closed

ICE

fir

f 1 ,

r 1

j’1

(^S)j Cabas*

Ffi

f Sr

r—i

Cymbal Crash

(^►)j Timbale

;

r“ rr "'

(?: |>)| Cony* High

i(s

iri

Conga Low

Ktr

Cymbal Asian

@1 Snare

□d

issj

(^Kick

ltd

c ^

During the past few months, the computer¬
ized drummer has been the beneficiary of
a bevy of new programs. One of these is
Different Drummer by Prim era Software.
Different Drummer is written for the Apple
Macintosh computer and is a program that
can comfortably wear several hats. In one
disguise, it can turn your Mac into a drum
machine. Used in a slightly different way, it
can be a remote-control programmer or
serve as a pattern and song librarian for
your "real" drum machine.

The basic concept behind a program like
Different Drummer is to give the program¬
mer (not necessarily a drummer) a graphic
interface for controlling a drum machine.
As a rule, drum machines are long on physi¬
cal features and short on visual aids. When
you first boot Different Drummer, you en¬
ter the "Pattern Edit" screen as shown in
Example No. 1.

The pattern edit interface is closely re¬
lated to the well-known MacPaint program.
On the left side of the screen is the tool
palette, and on the right is the "canvas."
The method of "painting" notes on the
screen is very simple and intuitive. Simply
click on a note value on the left side of the
tool pallet (like the highlighted 16th in the
example), move the mouse to where you
want that note to be played (Conga Low on
beat 6), and click. Similar to the "fat-bits"
feature in MacPaint, clicking on a note that
is already on the screen will erase it. And,
if you click over an existing note with a
different rhythmic value, the new value
overwrites the old. What could be easier?

There are also additional goodies and
options that can be used. The arrow and
the hand have become traditional icons in
the Macintosh community for selecting and

grabbing. In Different Drummer, these two
icons serve the same purpose. The pro¬
grammer can select a note or group of notes
with the arrow, and move them around on
the screen with the hand.

Below these icons are the note values
that can be inserted into a pattern. At first
glance, it seems that any value from whole
notes to 256th notes can be selected, but
Different Drummer offers even more op¬
tions. See the figures of the quarter, along
with grouping of three, five, and seven in
the palette? These are used in conjunction
with the note values to let the programmer
enter everything from "normal" notes, to
8th-note triplets, or even something like
128th-note septuplets. In other words, the
programmer can get every note value found

on a real drum machine, plus a few more.

At the top of the palette are the motion
controls. As you might expect, clicking on
the arrow will start the pattern playing, ,
while clicking on the box causes the pat¬
tern to stop. The circle is used for "real-
time" recording, which we'll cover in a
minute. The bottom right of the tool palette
presents the accent levels. Notice that the
volume choices range from four heavy dots
to four light dots, offering a total range of
nine levels.

The programming window next to the
tool palette contains an abundant amount
of information. In the upper left is a tempo
reading that can be adjusted in one-beat
increments from one beat per minute to
256 beats per minute. Next to the tempo
indication is the meter. A simple command
under the Pattern menu called "Set Time
Signature" presents you with a dialogue
box for meter selection. Time signatures
can be selected from 1,2,3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or
12 beats over single, half, quarter, 8th, 16th,
or 32nd notes.

The entire right side of this window is
dedicated to the pattern grid. Notice the
"Ml" at the top of the grid? This means that
you're looking at the first measure of a
multi-measure pattern. The next measure
would begin after the vertical line, and in
order to move the remainder of the pattern
onto the screen, the programmer would
click in the scroll bar at the bottom of the
window.

Below the measure indications are the
beat markings. Since this particular pattern
is in 6/8 time, there are six beats per meas¬
ure. Next comes the programming grid it¬
self. In the first example, the grid divides

Example 2

6 File Edit LUmdotns Pattern Jam Song Instruments

Untitled-2 * Jam

Beats/Hin

DU®

6/8 Chorus I 6/8 Chorus 2

j^j m

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6/8 Ending I

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6/8 Ending 2 6/8 Number 16/8 Number 26/8 Number 3

J/3J

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6/8 Number 46/8 Number 5

MODERN DRUMMER

by Norman Weinberg

Example 3

6 File Fdtf Windows Pnttorn Jam Song instruments

each beat into two equal parts, because a
16th note is selected as the tool. Whenever
a new note value is selected from the tool
palette, the screen's grid changes to ac¬
commodate the new note value. Commands
for zooming in and zooming out ensure
that you see as little or as much of the grid
as you want.

Using this type of a grid, it's very easy to
see that the Hi-Hat Open is going to play a
16th note on the second half of beats 4 and
6. In addition, a quick glance at the type of
dot next to the note will tell you which
notes were entered with no change in dy¬
namics (the Conga High track), softer dy¬
namics (the Cabasa track), and stronger
dynamics (the Snare track).

Some drum machines have the option of
changing instruments after the attack points
have already been programmed into the
pattern. Manufacturers call this feature
"Swap Sounds" or "Voice Assign." In Dif¬
ferent Drummer, clicking on an instrument's
name brings up a menu of all the sounds
that are available in the program. Perhaps
you would like to hear the pattern in Ex¬
ample No. 1 with a cowbell sound instead
of the Cabasa. No problem: Calling up the
cowbell is just a mouse click and a drag
away. Once you get a configuration of in¬
struments that you like, you can save them.

But wait a second! Where are these
sounds coming from and what is playing
them? Remember that one of the Different
Drummer's hats is a full-featured drum
machine. Included on the Different Drum¬
mer disk are almost 50 different digital
samples that can be played by the digital
processors inside the Macintosh. But that's
not all! Not only does the program come
with all those samples already on the disk,
it has the ability to read digital sound files
created by Sound Designer, Soundcap, and
SoundEdit. If you own any of these sample¬
editing programs, it's nice to know that the
fruits of your labors can be incorporated

into Different Drummer!

There are a couple of basic limitations
involved with using the Mac as a drum
machine. First is the sound quality. The
computer's digital-to-analog circuits use 8-
bit linear sampling. If your ears are accus¬
tomed to the industry's current 16-bit high-
end, these samples are going to sound
grainy or noisy, and will lack the crystal-
clear highs that 16-bits can offer.

The second limitation is the Mac's four-
voice sound generator. This means that you
can have any ten instruments on the screen
for a pattern, but only four can sound at
once. Trying to get five sounds simply won't
work. At times, a long sample's decay will
be cut off by another instrument's attack.
Oh yes, the tiny speaker inside the Mac
isn't state-of-the-art, so connecting the Mac
to an external speaker will improve the
sound considerably. Keep in mind that these
shortcomings are not caused by Different
Drummer. No programmer can get around

them or outsmart them.

Different Drummer has a couple of handy
features that should be mentioned. First is
the ability to mute any instrument's track
by simply clicking on the picture of the
speaker next to the instrument's name (like
the Cabasa in the first example). Second is
the ability to record your patterns in a "real¬
time" mode.

Notice in the example that there are
numbers next to the instrument's name for
each track. These numbers correspond to
the numbers on the top of the Macintosh's
keyboard. In other words, put the program
into record mode by clicking on the circle
in the tool palette, and then tap the "5" key
to trigger the sound of the Timbale. Bingo!
The sound is played, the attack is quan¬
tized to the closest value selected in the
tool palette, and everything is entered into
the pattern. Obviously, the Mac's keyboard
isn't velocity sensitive, but accent levels
can be programmed by using the number
keys on the Mac's numeric keyboard.

So, you've finally got the pattern to sound
just right. All the attacks are in the right
place, the dynamics are perfect, and every¬
thing is looking great. What do you do
now? Easy: Give the pattern a name and
save it to disk. Normal patterns take be¬
tween 2K and 4K, depending on their den¬
sity and length. On a standard double-sided
Mac disk, you've got room for several
hundred patterns.

Perhaps you've noticed that the first ex¬
ample contains a menu called "Jam." A
jam is something that is unique to Different
Drummer. By looking at Example No. 2,
you can see that the jam window is very
simple. There is a stop button (using the

Example 4

MODERN DRUMMER

same graphic as in the pattern window), a
tempo control, and an open window wait¬
ing to be filled with patterns.

The concept behind a jam is to add a
number of patterns to the window and ex¬
periment with playing the patterns in differ¬
ent orders. To create a new jam, you sim¬
ply tell Different Drummer to add patterns
into the empty window. Once you have all
the patterns you want on the screen, start
the jam by clicking on one of the patterns.
Once selected, the pattern will repeat in its
entirety until the stop button is clicked or
another pattern is selected. Get the idea?
You can just click on different patterns to
get a feel for how they work together. Nice,
huh? And any pattern in the jam can be
copied so that you can make slight vari¬
ations and edits to the pattern without leav¬
ing the jam window or losing the original.
In addition, jams can be saved to disk.

So far, we've created patterns and ex¬
perimented with their order in the jam win¬
dow. Now it's time to create a song. The
song editor is where this program and its
visual interface really shine. The song edi¬
tor looks much like the jam editor with a
few additional buttons. There is the arrow¬
like play button, a selection pointer tool,
and a looping tool. As you can see from
Example No. 3, a song is created by load¬
ing patterns into the window and adding
any necessary loops.

It's a simple task to add loops of any size
or even nested loops that are two or three
levels deep. As in jams, patterns can be
copied for adjustments while in the song
editor. There is even a command for copy¬
ing just the pattern's icon, without making
an entirely new pattern (and using up more
memory). This can come in handy when a
particular pattern is used in several sec¬
tions of a song. If you want to adjust the
order of a pattern on the screen, just select
it, and use the mouse to drag it around to a
different location. Additions and deletions
are even easier to perform, and, once you
are satisfied with the result, saving the mas¬
terpiece to disk is a snap.

By now, you should have a pretty good
handle on how using Different Drummer
can turn your Macintosh into a drum ma¬
chine. But, if you already own a "real"
drum machine, can you still use Different
Drummer? You bet!

What you see in Example No. 4 is this
program's Instrument Setup Window. By
using this window, you can give a name to
any instrument, decide if the name will be
visible in the "pop-up" menu of the pattern
editor, assign that instrument a MIDI note
number, and designate a MIDI channel.
Bingo! You've made the MIDI connection.
Anything you program on the computer's
screen will be played by your drum ma¬
chine using the drum machine's samples,
tunings, stereo outputs, etc. Different Drum¬
mer will supply the note-on and -off mes¬
sages, changes in velocities, and tempo—
in essence, using your drum machine as an
external sound generator for the software.
And (get this), when running the program

in this way, you're no longer limited to
only four voices!

Once you've arranged all your instru¬
ment names, channels, and note numbers,
the result can be saved as a "Setup" that
can be selected from the Instruments menu.
The program comes from the factory with
setups for the Alesis HR-16, the Roland
TR505, and the Yamaha RX15. In other
words, changing the sounds of your pat¬
terns and songs can be as simple as calling
a new setup from the menu. Creating a
new setup takes only a few minutes, and
for electronic drummers who own two dif¬
ferent drum machines (or a drum machine
and a multi-timbral unit like the Korg Ml
or Roland D-110), you can see how easily
patterns can be "ported" from one machine
to the other.

It's also possible to use Different Drum¬
mer as a librarian for your drum machine
by creating patterns in the software and
then recording them into the drum
machine's internal memory by MIDI mes¬
sages. I know that this may sound a bit
klunky, but it does work, and for many
models of drum machines, it would serve
as the only current solution to the lack of
drum machine librarians on the market.

There is one additional feature that must
be mentioned. Different Drummer can cre¬
ate a standard MIDI file from any pattern or
song. This means that you can create the
entire drum track in Different Drummer,
dump it out to a MIDI file, and open that
file with your software sequencer (if your
sequencer reads MIDI files).

Different Drummer is a program that is
going to save a lot of musicians a lot of
time. Programming a drum machine in such
a graphic environment is a welcome change
of pace, and I found that the visual pro¬
gramming process did a lot to stimulate my
creative juices.

There are a few things that I would like
to see implemented in future versions of
this product. The programmer should be
able to use more than ten instruments per
pattern. At least 32 instruments at once
would give the software more flexibility
when used as a remote-control program¬
mer. But, with a scrolling window avail¬
able, why have any limitation on the num¬
ber of instruments visible at one time?

If Primera wants drummers to use this
program in place of their own drum ma¬
chines, then programmable tempo changes
in the song editor are going to be a must. At
the very least, Different Drummer should
send the MIDI system-common messages
of Start, Stop, and MIDI clocks for timing
accuracy. Different Drummer should also
be able to read MIDI messages sent from
an external controller. This way, existing
patterns already in a hardware drum ma¬
chine could be sent to Different Drummer.
These last two suggestions would make li¬
brarian-type features less of a hassle. Any
other complaints (such as the sound qual¬
ity, four-voice limitation, and slow screen
refreshes) are really the fault of the Macin¬
tosh rather than the program.

If you currently own a Macintosh com¬
puter, and would like to do some drum
machine programming, then getting Differ¬
ent Drummer is an option to consider. If
you own a Mac along with a drum ma¬
chine or a sound generator that includes
drum samples, then Different Drummer is
going to make programming much more
fun. The manual is well-written and easy to
understand, the sounds included with the
program are as strong as can be expected
considering the Mac's D/A circuits, and the
visual interface is well-presented.

Buying this program may also be consid¬
ered a political statement. If Primera and
Different Drummer are supported by the
drumming public, then they (along with
other software publishers) will continue to
upgrade and create programs that are de¬
signed for drummers and their specific
needs. In other words, if the market is there,
then the products will be forthcoming. If
the software community notices that pro¬
grams that support electronic percussion
are financial disasters, then drummers are
not going to get the kind of software sup¬
port that keyboard players are already tak¬
ing for granted. Different Drummer is avail¬
able from selected retailers, or you can
contact Primera Software, 1411 209th Ave¬
nue N.E., Redmond, Washington 98053,
(206) 868-6360. The suggested retail price
is $99.95.

A New General Lo n 1 of Drmnst i cks
for d New General ion of Drummers.

promapfc

Send 52 J'oi new color catalog.
10707 Craighead Drive, Houston.
Texas 77025 - 713/060-2525

MODERN DRUMMER

Joey Kramer

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ROCK ’ N’ JAZZ CLINIC

by Rod Morgenstein

Double Strokes, Triple Strokes, Accents, And More

MUSIC KEY

Warming up on a drum pad before sitting down at
the drumset is very important to me. It loosens me
up, relaxes me, and helps me mentally prepare for
performing. The warm-up exercises that follow are
based on two kinds of strokes: double strokes and
triple strokes.

The placement (or displacement) of the stroke
on the beat, along with strategically placed ac¬
cents, make these exercises quite challenging. The benefit of these
exercises is two-fold in that, in addition to loosening you up, the
awkward placement of the accents and strokes will help strengthen
your overall understanding and command of time. I strongly sug¬
gest counting and/or tapping your foot.

Examples 1 through 4 consist of double strokes beginning on
the beat.

>>>>>>>>

i=i

RRLIRRLLRRLL RRLL
> > >>>>>>

]

RRL L RRLLRRLLRRLL
> > >>>>>>

RRL L RRLLRRLLRRLL
>>>>>>>>

jrom rr& m

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RRL LRRLL RRL LRRUL
4 >>>> >>>>

J-i J.J J J J J : ||

RRLL RRLLRRLLRRLL

In examples 5 through 8, the double strokes are displaced by a
16th note. That is, the double stroke begins on the "e" of the beat.

> > > > > > > >

RLL RRLLRRLLRRLL R
> > > > >_> > >

RL L RRLLRRLLRRLLR

y >>>>>>>>

RLL RRLLRRLLRRLLR
>>>>>>>>

RLLRRLLRRLLRRLLR

^ ^ ^ ^

RLLRRLLRRLLRRLLR

Examples 9, 10, and 11 consist of triple strokes beginning on the
beat.

Q > > > >_

rrrlllrrrlll

rrrlllrrrlll
> > > >

rrrlllrrrlll

In examples 12, 13, and 14, the triple strokes are displaced by
an 8th note.

1 3

rlllhrrlllrr
> > > >

rlllrrrlllrr

1 4

* »

RLL LRRRLLLRR

Examples 15, 16, and 17 have the triple strokes being displaced
by two 8th notes.

RRL L L RRRLLLR

RRLLLRRRLLLR

RRLLLRR RLLLR

Deceptively simple, these exercises are what you might call
musical tongue twisters. As part of my warm-ups, they keep me on
my toes while at the same time loosening me up and mentally m
preparing me to "tear it up" on the drumset. W

MODERN DRUMMER

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Randy Castillo

CONCEPTS

Frustration

A young man from a midwestern city wrote
to me recently and said, "As much as I
enjoy your articles in MD, I wish they were
more realistic. In the town I live in, all you
have to do to get the best gigs is kiss ass
and do cocaine with the right people. Mean¬
while, serious, dedicated, and punctual
drummers are not working."

I wrote back to this young man and listed
a number of great drummers I know well
as friends who are not into drugs. Famous
drummers come in all types, but most of
the successful ones are career-oriented and
would not do anything that would endan¬
ger what they have worked so hard to
achieve. I also suggested that if the music
scene in the town that he lived in was truly
as negative as he described, perhaps he
should consider relocating. This won't nec¬
essarily solve all of the problems, but some¬
times a fresh and new environment can be
like a new start. The young man was kind
enough to respond to my letter. He said
that if all the drummers I had named were
"straight," he felt as though he was in pretty
good company. He just wanted to find other

WANTED:

DRUMMERS WITH
IDEAS TO SHARE!

Some of the best, most practical tips for
drummers often come from typical
working players—drummers just like
yourself. To help pass along those tips
to drummers who can benefit from
them, MD wiM soon debut a brand-
new department called Drum tine*

If you have a quick, proven tip that
has saved you time, money, or effort,
we want to hear from you. Items can
range from equipment maintenance,
repair, or design lips, to valid practice
and playing ideas. And we'll pay you
Si5.00 for your winning tip if its pub¬
lished!

We ask that you keep your Drum-
Line lip to 1 50 words maximum. Pho-
!os or drawings are fine, but they can¬
not be returned. Send your tip, along
with your name and address, to Drum-
Line, c/o Modem Drummer, 870 Pomp-
I o n Av e n u e, Ceda r C rove, N | 07009.

Why keep your unique idea to your¬
self? Share it with thousands of drum¬
mers around the world through MD's
DrumLine —and we'll send you a check
as a Thank You!

serious musicians to play with.

We all have times when we are frus¬
trated and upset. Sometimes it can be that
you are working a lot but you don’t care
for the music you are playing to make a
living. Studio musicians often feel this way.
The smart ones do outside gigs where they
can really play (even though the gigs may
pay very little) so that they can keep their
feeling and interest in music at a high level.
In L.A., you can hear various members of
the Tonight Show band, for example, work¬
ing clubs for the opportunity to "stretch
out" and really play.

The opposite of this problem is experi¬
enced by drummers who are playing the
music they love, with musicians they re¬
spect and enjoy working with, but for very
little money. These drummers may feel very
frustrated because the music they love to
play doesn't pay enough money to buy
necessities. It can be especially frustrating
when you see other drummers getting
ahead—at least for the moment—using the
methods described by the young man who
wrote me. Note that I said "at least for the
moment." I started playing in bands when I
was 14. I have seen many drummers come
and go. In nearly every case, when a drum¬
mer developed a drinking or drug prob¬
lem, that drummer's career either never
developed or was short-lived.

For example, I have a very close friend
who developed a heroin problem. He fi¬
nally enrolled himself in a heavy-duty drug
program, got himself straightened out, and
has been playing actively for many years
now. His younger brother was not so lucky.
He died from a drug overdose. He was also
a promising young drummer who thought
drugs would get him somewhere faster—
and they did. They got him to the grave
faster.

Other drummers—some of them quite
famous—have gotten off drugs after devel¬
oping serious problems. However, in most
cases, their careers were damaged in one
way or another. The same is true of alco¬
hol. It too has ruined the careers of a num¬
ber of great musicians. Conversely, look at
the drummers who have had long careers.
They have maintained a healthy lifestyle.

The music business is the "rejection"
business. There are more drummers than
there are jobs or bands. It has always been
this way. The same is true in athletics. Think
of how many high school and college foot¬
ball teams there are in the U.S. However,
there are only 26 professional football
teams. Not every college player is going to
make it to the pros. You just have to keep
plugging away. You have to prepare your¬

self the best that you can. Then, if you
don't make it big, at least you gave it your
best shot. Remember, the odds are against
you. It is a very competitive and tough
business.

There are no shortcuts! A very wise
woman told me years ago that "if you go
up like a rocket, you usually come down
like a rocket." Tremendous early success is
usually difficult to maintain. However, if
you go up steadily, at a reasonable pace,
you have a better chance to maintain your
success. Remember, it is not important how
your career starts out. All that counts is
how it ends up!

Organize your own band and rehearse
two nights a week. Again, many studio
musicians play in rehearsal bands, just to
have a chance to play music they enjoy.
Organize a percussion ensemble with any
combination of interested players. Set up
four drumsets and have fun. Experiment
with different instruments and different
sounds.

One good rule to follow when thinking
about the difficulties and frustrations in our
business is "don't worry about other drum¬
mers." Envy gets you nowhere. Worry about
what you can do to improve your own
career.

As I mentioned, relocating is a valid op¬
tion. I left Kansas for New York City. Unless
you're from a big city, you usually can't
stay in your home town and make it. The
exception to this is when musicians form a
group, get discovered, and have a string of
hit records, such as Bill Berry with R.E.M.
This band has been together for years. The
same thing happened with the Beatles.
However, the chances are still tough at
best.

Not all of us are going to wind up at the
top of our profession. However, this does
not mean that drumming and music can't
still be a big part of our lives. Music, unlike
athletics, can be a joy all of your life. Even
when you are too old to play, you can
listen and appreciate. (Come to think of it,
old football players can still watch Mon¬
day Night Football, so in a way, perhaps it
is the same.)

My attitude is, number one, there are no
shortcuts. Number two, I am glad to be
alive. Number three, I am blessed with good
health. Number four, I grew up and live in
the U.S.A. (In other countries, the opportu¬
nities are far fewer; ask anyone who has
traveled.) Number five, be grateful that you
can pursue what you love to do. And, last
but not least, remember this: No one said it
was going to be easy!

MODERN DRUMMER

MORE OF THE WORLD’S GREAT DRUMMERS
PLAY ZILDJIANS THAN ALL OTHER CYMBALS COMBINED.

S H O

P T A 1

Drums: An Engineer

Last month we looked at an acoustic drum
from the viewpoint of an engineer. We used
some basic physical principles to help us
understand how an acoustic drum works.
This month we'll extend this analysis to
drumheads.

First, let's discuss a property of musical
instruments called "modes of vibration." If
the A string of a guitar is plucked, we'd
expect to hear an A note (110 vibrations
per second). This does indeed happen.
However, we hear higher frequencies, too.
The A note by itself is the "fundamental"
mode of vibration; the higher frequencies
that we hear simultaneously are produced
by higher modes of vibration. No musical
instrument can produce only a fundamen¬
tal mode; the closest that we can come is a
tuning fork (which still isn't quite pure).
The amount and volume of the higher
modes give musical instruments their own
individual sounds. This is why pianos and
trumpets sound different, even if the same
notes are played on each.

Before we examine drumheads specifi¬
cally, we'll look at a simpler mechanical
system: a vibrating string. (Analyzing the
string's properties will make it easier to
understand drumheads later.) Picture a gui¬
tar string that has just been plucked. We
automatically think of it vibrating as in Fig¬
ure 1. What's not so obvious is that the

Figure 2: Some higher modes of a vibrating guitar string.

nice ringy sound. The cen¬
ter of the drum, however, is
something of a paradox. It's
the anti-node for the fun¬
damental (and most impor¬
tant) mode. However, for
four out of the first six (and
five out of the next six)
modes, it's part of a nodal
line. This is why the center
of the drumhead is a "dead"
spot; the higher modes of
vibration aren't present
when you hit the drum
there.

We can use this infor¬
mation if we decide to
muffle the drum. The cen¬
ter of the drumhead is a
good spot to dampen the
fundamental mode of the
drum, since it's the anti¬
node for this lowest fre¬

Figure 7: Fundamental vibration of a guitar string.

string is simultaneously vibrating in several
other patterns, as shown in Figure 2. (We
would see these patterns if we looked at a
vibrating string with a strobelight instead of
a steady light.) These are its higher modes
of vibration.

Scientists have invented their own termi¬
nology to describe this sort of vibrating
system. Of interest to us is the word "node."
This describes a point (such as in the middle
of the string of Figure 2A) where there is no
movement. Conversely, an "anti-node" is a
point at which maximum movement oc¬
curs. In Figure 2A, there are two anti-nodes,
at 1/4 and 3/4 of the way along the string.
Touching this vibrating string at different
points will have different effects. If we touch

a node, nothing will happen; the string will
continue to vibrate unimpeded. However,
if we touch an anti-node, vibration will be
obstructed.

Now, we'll apply all of this to drum¬
heads. If we assume a perfectly tuned drum¬
head, we'll come pretty close to what
acoustic engineers call "an ideal mem¬
brane." These scientists have analyzed
membrane vibration pretty exten¬
sively. What they found can be
useful to us as drummers.

Drumheads are actually very
complex devices. Our guitar string
analogy is still useful, but we must
change our idea of a "node" to
that of a "nodal line." In a drum¬
head, there are no longer points
with no movement. Instead, there
are lines of no movement.

Figure 3 shows the first six modes of
vibration of a drumhead. Each has a nodal
line around the rim, which is obvious: The
rim prevents motion. However, nodal lines
also occur across the head and around it.
(This may all seem strange, but it's a proven
fact.) These six modes are the simplest; at
least 12 have been identified, and they get
more complicated as you go up. However,
since the lowest modes are generally the
loudest, we'll content ourselves with the
first six.

These modes are the reasons behind
some common drum behavior. If you hit a
drum out near the rim, chances are you're
hitting an area that's an anti-node for most
of the modes of vibration. This will give a

quency. Adhesive "dots" are sold for this
purpose, in various sizes. The more popu¬
lar option is to buy ready-made dotted
heads. (Such heads also have the advan¬
tage of being more durable than a plain
head.) If you want to muffle more of the
drum's modes, try a Remo Pinstripe or,
more extremely, an Evans Flydraulic oil-
filled head. Last month's article explained
how a many-layered material filters out
the higher frequencies, and this same prin¬
ciple applies here. If instead you want to
soak up only the really high frequencies,
try a little tape or tissue muffling, at a spot
a few inches inside the rim. A good for¬
mula to use is to multiply the drum's di¬
ameter by 1/5 or 1/4. So, for a 12" tom,
you'd muffle 2 1/2" to 3" away from the rim.
This is where most of the anti-nodes are.
The actual orientation of the nodal lines
will depend on how many lugs there are
and where they're located, so don't try just
one spot. Move the muffling around a little
to see what sounds best, but keep the same
distance from the rim. An inch or two to
the left or right might mean the difference
between a node and an anti-node for a
certain mode of vibration.

How much muffling to use is a matter of
taste, but the less, the better. If you use too
much, you'll increase the effective mass of
the drumhead and (if you really pile it on)
decrease the effective surface area. Both
actions raise the drum's pitch.

If, to get a reasonable sound, you do
have to really pile on the muffling,
something's wrong. If tuned properly, the

MODERN DRUMMER

by Spiros A. Psarris

ing Analysis: Part 2

Figure 3: The
first six modes
of a vibrating
drumhead.

drum should give a decent sound even by
itself. If the drum won't tune properly, check
your equipment. Less expensive drums es¬
pecially have problems such as bendable

rims, poorly machined threads in the lug
boxes, etc. These types of things will make
it impossible to get a good sound from the
drum.

By the way, drumshells also have nodes
and anti-nodes. As drummers, we have little
influence over the drumshell's vibration, so
we usually ignore it. However, we now
know what is meant by certain snare drum
companies when they boast of hardware
on the drum's "nodal points." We see that
hardware mounted on the nodes of vibra¬
tion will have little effect on the drum's vi¬
bration. Compare this to the dead weight
of six to ten blocks of metal screwed to the
drumshell at non-nodal points. Obviously,
"nodal-point" hardware is an improvement.

We've now examined the complete op¬
eration of an acoustic drum. Study this in¬
formation carefully, and make sure you
understand the underlying principles. They
can help to eliminate the guesswork when
you try to achieve "your" sound. Good
luck!

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MODERN DRUMMER

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everyone in the group decides what group
of instruments he wants to play, and then
we just play. And because we’ve done it so
much, a lot of the stuff sounds really coher¬
ent, as though there is some kind of ar¬
rangement. We decided to do an album
like this because we always wind up im¬
provising together at rehearsals and taping

it. Then, when we listen back, we always
wish that it had been taped on a DAT or
something, because it sounds like a com¬
posed piece.

"More and more, the members of the
group are specializing in specific instru¬
ments that are distinctly different. Lucky
Mosko is playing more and more piano.
John Bergamo is playing more hand drums.
Gregg Johnson is getting into singing and
rapping as an extension of his use of junk
and car springs and industrial by-products.
I’m getting more into electronics and mal¬
lets. Larry Stein is sort of the Hal Blaine of
the group; he plays a lot of rock ’n’ roll
drumset and has been delving into guitar.
Jim Hildebrandt likes to focus on steel
drums. Combining six distinct individuals
like this is much more interesting than hav¬
ing a bunch of guys all kind of doing the
same thing."

In addition to the album, video projects
are also in the works. "Video artist Toby
Keeler and his assistant, Mark Mueller, went
to Germany with us," Ed says, "and he
taped everything from the setting up of in¬
struments in the studio to the band deliver¬
ing a stirring rendition of ’Stand By Your
Man.’ Then we did a two-week concert
tour and they taped that, too—the perform¬
ances as well as the backstage antics. We
ended up with about 40 hours of footage.
Toby is going to edit it down into various
formats: a four-minute video for VH-1 type
stations, ten-minute mini-documentaries,
and an hour-long documentary. It will
probably take a year to complete the whole
thing, but it should be an interesting proj-

ddrum

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( 203 ) 374-0020

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ect.

"At least we were able to document the
band," Ed adds. "It's such a weird band
that it would be a shame if it never got
documented. I don't know of any other
band doing the kind of stuff we do, or who
have the kind of diversity that we have. For
example, Lucky Mosko spends most of his
time conducting ballet and opera in San
Francisco and at the Aspen Music Festival,
and he teaches composition part-time at
Yale. And he's a member of the Repercus¬
sion Unit. He has an extensive awareness
of contemporary music and compositional
technique, and it comes into play. He'll
come into rehearsal and start talking about
some method that Stockhausen used to put
together his compositions, and the next
thing you know, we're doing the same thing.
It's like going to school. Bergamo will come
in with some hand drum that we didn't
even know existed, and we'll start doing
something around that. Or I'll come in with
some new electronic gizmo, and that will
set us off in a different direction. So it's a
constantly evolving ball of wax that doesn't
have any artistic limitations. Anything goes.
For us, it's therapy as much as anything
else. Also, because we've been doing this
for so long, it's gotten to be kind of like an
Elks Club, complete with a secret Lodge
and all kinds of strange, ritualistic behav¬
ior."

Being that the Repercussion Unit is made
up of such a unique group of individuals,
and that much of their music is impro¬
vised, just how do they fit into the overall
picture of percussion groups? Do they have
any relevance to the typical college per¬
cussion ensemble? "Well," Ed answers,
"there is a lot of music that John has writ¬
ten that we've played and that is published.
And anyone who knows the Repercussion
Unit knows that stuff. I have heard other
percussion ensembles play it, and it's inter¬
esting because it never sounds anything
like a Repercussion Unit performance. The
order of pitches is about the same, but the
phrasing and overall performance is no¬
where near it. Not that it should be.

"The feedback we get is that when people
hear us, they are not so much inspired to
play the exact same music we play, but to
experiment with different compositional
forms and cross-pollinations of musical
styles. They're inspired to take more
chances and to get as much as possible out
of percussion instruments, which is a huge
amount. So in that sense, we do have an
effect on other ensembles, just in the fact
that we might inspire them to do some¬
thing they've never thought of before.

"And that's the whole reason we started
doing it anyway," Mann adds. "We wanted
to carve out some new turf. So in that sense,

I think we are relevant. There are other
ensembles that do things their own way.
Nexus is a drastically different group than
we are, but experimenting and exploring is
a big part of what they do. Whenever I see
Nexus play I'm inspired to hit on some
new area that they've embodied in their

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MODERN DRUMMER

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performance.

"That’s the thing: Each musician or group
is going to approach something in a unique
way. You can often learn a lot just by watch¬
ing how other people do things. Develop¬
ing in your own way what you learn from
others will ultimately result in something
that is still unique to you."

Besides the new Repercussion Unit al¬
bum, Ed has another current project that
he is excited about: his first album as a
leader, titled Get Up, also being released
on CMP. It’s something that he’s thought
about for a long time, but that he didn't
want to do until he was sure of his own
direction. "Since about the beginning of
the ’80s," he says, "I've gone through a lot
of trial and error basically finding out what
I want my own music to be. What I've
found is that I'm more concerned with
content and continuity, rather than with
music that is just a framework for a lot of
solos.

"So during that period of time I would
get people together and play, and I was
experimenting a lot with writing. I also
became aware of African pop music, par¬
ticularly Nigerian stuff. The music seemed
to be very connected, and I liked the way
the parts interacted rhythmically. It re¬
minded me a lot of the experiences I'd had
with Steve Reich's music and that type of
thing. But it also had this real groove sensi¬
bility to it, and that's always been impor¬
tant to me. I grew up listening to Motown

and Hendrix, and I still really like that mu¬
sic. It's real emotional stuff. So in my own
music I like to combine some of that over¬
all feeling with the interlocking rhythmic
patterns and simple melodies that often form
the basis of my tunes, rather than just fea¬
ture a lot of chopsy playing. That's one
reason why the solos on this record are
minimal, and often from other members of
the band rather than myself. To write all of
the music and be the guy who always solos
would have been musically unbalanced for
this particular project.

"Another thing I wanted to do was have
a band sound," Ed says. "I wanted to use
the same guys on all of the tunes and re¬
cord everything in the same place so that it
would have an identifiable sound. Some¬
thing special happens when you stick with
the same guys and develop things together,
as opposed to having different people on
every tune, where you are constantly mix¬
ing and matching various personalities.
There can be a place for that, but I was
interested in developing something with this
particular group of players. I used guys that
I've played with a lot in other situations.
Chad Wackerman played drums, and we've
probably played thousands of hours to¬
gether in Frank's band, as well as having
played together on the side. I had Walt
Fowler on trumpet and flugelhorn, and
Bruce Fowler on trombone, and again,
we've played a lot together with Frank.
And I worked with the guitarist, Mike

Hoffman, and the bass player, Doug Lunn,
in a band I had from '84 to '86 called Left,
Right, Left. That's one place that I had the
chance to do a lot of experimenting and
develop my ideas. So by having this par¬
ticular cast of characters and taking time to
develop the material, I think we arrived at
a real identifiable sound. I wanted music
that is interesting to listen to, as opposed to
music that is just impressive. And so far the
feedback is that people enjoy listening to
it."

Considering Mann's expertise with elec¬
tronics and his knowledge of a variety of
instruments, he could easily have made a
true "solo" album and played—or pro¬
grammed, as the case may be—all of the
parts himself. But that was never a consid¬
eration. "Sure, I could have done that," he
admits, "but I wanted the music to have an
edge to it that you only get from having a
band playing together. Plus, I can't play
trombone. And even though I can play
drums, I'm not going to play them the same
way Chad Wackerman plays them. By hav¬
ing a band, you get a certain amount of
interplay that happens because each per¬
son plays a little bit differently. In order to
make all the pieces of the musical puzzle
fit, the musicians have to find a way to
work together, and you get a certain kind
of tension and release. It's a special type of
thing, and it's something that I definitely
wouldn't have had if I had played all of the
parts myself, from only my point of view.

"I really have to emphasize that it's one
thing to have compositional ideas and kind
of provide the direction, but the real rea¬
son that it winds up sounding the way it
does is because of the players involved.
They really bring it to life. You never real¬
ize it more until you compare a sequenced
demo of a tune to the real thing. The only
comparison is that the order of pitches and
general rhythms are about the same. What
really makes it a piece of listenable music
is what the players put into it."

As one might expect, Mann plays a vari¬
ety of percussion instruments on the al¬
bum, and he incorporates a healthy share
of electronic technology. And yet, his iden¬
tity as a percussionist is always evident.
Even with the synthesized sounds, there is
always something unmistakably percussive
about them. "That's why I do my own pro¬
gramming," Ed says. "I'm using the same
synthesizers and samplers that everybody
else in the world is using right now, so it's
all in the programming. Again, it's impor¬
tant not to lose the identity of the person
who's doing it. So being a percussionist,
the things I come up with on these elec¬
tronic gizmos should be as unique as the
sounds I get on straight acoustic percus¬
sion. There should be something about the
sound that says, 'That's a percussion patch.
A percussionist came up with that from a
percussionist's point of view.' A keyboard
player probably would not come up with
that, because he would be thinking a dif-

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ferent way. It may be the same MIDI equip¬
ment, but it's the programming and design¬
ing of the sounds that make for the differ¬
ence.

"I recently did a session for Mark Isham
that illustrates this point perfectly. He
wanted me to come in and play some
simple ostinatos on the Silicon Mallet. I
was originally curious as to why he had
called me, because he is very involved in
MIDI and electronics, and the parts were
very simple, so I figured that he could eas¬
ily have played it from his keyboard or
computer. But he wanted both the sounds
and the phrasing from a percussionist's point
of view. That's what made it special, and I
was happy that he called me to do it."

A good example of Ed's approach to cre¬
ating sounds appears on his album on a cut
titled "Shattered Illusion." One of the domi¬
nant sounds on that tune resembles a vi¬
braphone, but there's more to it than that.
"That sound on the front part of the tune
was made by mixing a regular vibe sound
with a sample of my son Alexander's little
toy bells—those metal tubes that are in a
pentatonic scale—that was combined with
a sample of an air tube that I was swinging
around in a circle. When I put them to¬
gether, I got the attack of the bell and the
breathiness of the air tube, which gave the
vibes a different quality. Keyboard players
are pretty intrigued when they hear this
stuff, because they generally don't have
samples of toy bells and swinging air tubes
to work from. That is definitely a
percussionist's domain. The electronics
come in because normally you couldn't
play chords and scales on an air tube, but
with a sampler you can.

"That was a case where the sound in¬
spired the tune," Ed comments. "That hap¬
pens frequently. I'll put samples together
and invent these sounds just for the sake of
inventing them, or to go after something
that I hear in my mind's ear. Then I'll look
for the right music to play with that sound.
It's an interesting way to compose, as op¬
posed to coming up with the music and
then trying to find the sounds that fit."

Electronics plays another role in Ed's
composing, in that he takes advantage of
his Macintosh computer. "It's simply a very
esoteric notepad," he laughs. "I used to
play ideas on marimba with a cassette re¬
corder running. But then I had to transcribe
it. Now, I play the Silicon Mallet, which is
MIDIed into the Macintosh, and everything
is recorded into the computer through an
Opcode sequencing program. At any point
I can hit Replay and hear one bar, two
bars, the last bar, the whole thing back¬
wards.... It's a fast, efficient way to review
what you've done. In fact, a few years ago I

ddrum

THE WORLD LEADER
IN DIGITAL SAMPLING
25 Lindeman Drive
Trumbull, CT 06611

( 203 ) 374-0020

MODERN DRUMMER

thought I had writer's block, but it was just
frustration from not being able to work with
the material efficiently. As soon as I started
working with the computer, I had access to
the material so quickly that I could work
without getting bogged down. I didn't get
tired; in fact, it was exhilarating to be able
to take what I wanted and get rid of what I
didn't want without having to dig through
piles of paper.

"So to me it's been a real positive thing.
But I want to keep it in its place. I used it to
write my book, The Essential Mallet Player,
and I use it to print out parts. But once I've
used it to compose, construct, and notate,
that's it. I don't want to use it for perform¬
ance. I'd rather give the basic parts to real
players and have them bring their own in¬
terpretations to it. Why should I sit there
and program every drum fill when I can
give it to a guy like Chad, who's going to
bring his own spirit to the part? There's
more life in it that way, and I think it's more
interesting for the listener."

Now that the album is finished, is the
group that appears on it going to stay to¬
gether and be a real band? "Absolutely," Ed
says. "In fact, we've already done a couple
of gigs just to keep the momentum going.
We'll start playing gigs in Southern Califor¬
nia when the album comes out, and we're
in the initial stages of putting together a
tour of Europe in the spring of 1990.

"I really want this to be a performing
unit," Ed stresses. "That's important to me
because it keeps the music alive and also
kindles new ideas. Functioning in a band
draws things out of you that don't happen
when you're practicing by yourself. When
you get a bunch of people together, things
start percolating. And again, the reason the
album sounds the way it does is because
we recorded it as a band, with very little
overdubbing. When we play live, it sounds
just like the record. There isn't anything we
can't reproduce. So I want to stay with that
band ethic."

And what about Zappa? Ed Mann actu¬
ally holds the record for longevity with that

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25 Undeman Drive
Trumbull, CT 06611

( 203 ) 374-0020

band, and appears on more albums than
any other Zappa sideman. But what are the
chances of future work with Zappa, con¬
sidering that Zappa has recently declared
that he will never tour again, and that he
might even quit music altogether? "The only
thing you can be sure of with Frank," Ed
answers, "is that you can never predict what
he's going to do. A few years ago he said
that he never wanted to tour again, but
then late in '87 he suddenly called and
said he was going on the road. So even
though there are no tours or live perform¬
ances scheduled at the moment, I suppose
things could change at any time."

Whatever happens—or doesn't happen—
with Zappa in the future, Ed is grateful for

the opportunities that Zappa has given him.
"It really struck me during that last tour,"
Ed recalls. "We were right in the middle of
The Illinois Enema Bandit,' which is this
real down-home blues number, and I'm
standing there playing and thinking, 'Where
else could I play marimba on a blues tune
like this with screaming guitar? This is ri¬
diculous, but it's great!' Before I went with
Frank, I never played blues marimba or
rock-style marimba, but since having done
it with his band, I actually do quite a bit of
it now. It's become part of my musical vo¬
cabulary—part of who I am as a musi¬
cian."

Zappa has always had prominent per¬
cussion in his music. Did he ever discuss

TWO GREAT PERCUSSIONISTS
TWO GREAT RECORDINGS
CMP-ONE GREAT LABEL

ip mini_

GET UP CMP 38

Ed Mann, percussionist and synthesist with
Frank Zappa since T977 and co-bunder ol the
critically acclaimed Repercussion Unit (CMP 31)
presents his debut recording as a leader, GET
UP He is joined by fellow Frank Zappa musi¬
cians, drummer Chad Wackerman, Bruce Fow¬
ler (trombone) and Wall Fowler (trumpet), as well
as bassist Doug Lunn (e, g. Brian Adams) and
guitarist Mike Hoffman, "Ed Mann arid bends
have blended elements ol jazz, R & B f pop and
island music into a truly original sound, rich in
rhythm and melody," Rick Mattingly ■ Modern
Drummer Magazine.

Digital Recording/ODD—October '88

6LIMWLEZ _

ASSYRIAN ROSE CMP 42

Master hand percussionist Gfen Velez (frame
drums, steel drum and voice), long time asso¬
ciate of Steve Retch and Paul Winter, unveils
ASSYRIAN ROSE, his bird production on CMP
Records, In the company of Layne Redmond
(percussion), Steve Gorn (flute). John Clark
(French horn) and Howard Levy (harmonica/
piano) indicate rhythms and enchanting melo¬
dies a re combined to create soothingly dazzling
Asian and Souih-American rnlluenced lunes.

Digit$l Recording/ODD—June ‘89

Available on CD's, Audiophile Quality German
Pressing and BASF Chrome Cassettes

CMP RECORDS

Member of

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Write for a free catalog
CMP Records 155 W, 72nd Street #704 Dept. MD
NYC. NY 10023

Distributed in be US. by Rounder. Gemini,
Impact, Rick Ballard, North Country, Wayside,
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MODERN DRUMMER

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any of his philosophies about percussion
with Mann? "Not specifically," Ed says, "But
Ruth Underwood [Zappa percussionist prior
to Manni once told me something that I
thought was pretty enlightening. In her opin¬
ion, Frank's personality and way of think¬
ing can be summed up by a fast single¬
stroke roll on the marimba. 'Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.'
That's why he liked marimba so much,
because it personified him. It's constant hard
attacks, and there's nothing indistinct about
a marimba sound: It's right there. And Frank
is like that. I know that doesn't exactly
answer the question, but that always stuck
in my mind.

"I think he just likes the sounds. Fie talks
about how he was influenced early on by
Edgar Varese, and percussion was certainly
a big part of Varese's music. Also, Frank's
first instrument was drums. Even though he
never went on to become a drummer, he
obviously has a real love for it, and I think
it has benefitted his music. Orchestra bells
or xylophone can really make a melody
stick out; a gong can make low things go
lower; a triangle can make high things go
higher; a cymbal crash can make loud
things louder. Percussion also gives Frank's
music an orchestral quality that it wouldn't
have from just guitars and keyboards. So
I'm sure that's why he has always written it
in.

"I'm personally very glad that he thinks
that way," Ed says. "Not only has it been a
tremendous opportunity for me personally,

but I think it's contributed significantly to
the evolution of percussion. It's gotten a lot
of people to listen to it and has brought an
awareness of those instruments to people's
ears."

But while Mann is proud to have been
associated with Zappa's music, he feels it's
time to establish his own identity. "A lot of
people know that I've played with Frank
all those years," he explains, "so they as¬
sume that when I write my own music, it
will incorporate a lot of the same ele¬
ments—the polymeters and all that. But I
don't include that kind of thing in my own
music, just because it's not what I'm in¬
clined to do.

"You can't get too imbedded in anybody
else's style," Ed continues. "At some point
you have to find out what it is that you do,
and then make your own contribution.
That's why I'm interested in working on my
own projects right now. Most of the record¬
ings I've done have been with Zappa bands,
and so the playing is within the context of
Frank's view as a composer. On my own
album I use a lot of things that don't come
into play as part of a Zappa performance.

"Doing my own music is something I've
been thinking about for a long time. I've
written music since I was a teenager. But
it's taken me until now to get the concept
strong enough that I feel good about it, and
to where I know that it's going to develop
and grow, rather than just being one al¬
bum. I had to wait until the time was really"

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right, though. There's no way to force that
kind of thing. If you do it before you're
really ready, then you're doing yourself a
disservice and it's not going to be success¬
ful.

"I was actually going to record the al¬
bum in 1987, and then Frank suddenly
decided to go out on the road. So I decided
to put it off for a year, even though I felt
that I was ready to do it then. But the
album ended up being better for having
waited a year, just because my concept
changed in that time. So it's important to
be patient. I guess that's a fringe benefit of
age."

Indeed, Ed has taken his time to get a
concept worked out, but he refuses to put
extra pressure on himself by creating an
arbitrary timetable for his career. "In this
business," he explains, "we often see people
who have tremendous success at an early
age. It's easy to start thinking that it all has
to happen soon, and that the clock is tick¬
ing, and that, 'Oh Cod, I'm going to be 30
soon and I've missed my time.' If your brain
is influenced that way, it's strictly self-in¬
duced. It doesn't have to be reality; you
create your own reality. The fact is, there
are a lot of years left in your life, and it
doesn't have to all happen in a short pe¬
riod. The idea is to build towards some¬
thing so that when you're 50 years old, you
will still be coming on to new things and
having new experiences. You have to look
at it as a continual growth cycle, rather
than feeling that everything after your mid-
30's is downhill.

"It's always a kick when you do
something for the first time: first gig, first
time on the road, first time with a major
band. Hopefully, you can continue to have
first experiences at age 50, 60, 70. So for
me, having my first solo album is that kind
of experience, and it makes me feel
younger. It's important to feel young, no
matter what age you are."

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ROCK PERSPECTIVES

The Ageless Beats Of

After playing a recent show with the Jefferson
Airplane, I was riding on the bus and listening to
some music from the '60s, 70s, and '80s, when I
realized that certain beats have been used over
and over since the beginning of rock 'n' roll mu¬
sic. A lot of these beats have stood the test of time
and have become the signature of rock 'n' roll
drumming. I have chosen eight beats (and a few
variations) to look at in this article. These beats are like the ABC's
of rock 'n' roll.

MUSIC KEY

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Beat #1

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Beat #1 is probably the most basic rock beat you can play.
Ringo Starr used it in the '60s on a lot of the early Beatle songs, "I
Should Have Known Better," "Can't Buy Me Love," "I'll Be Back,"
"Help," and "And Your Bird Can Sing," to name a few. Charlie
Watts also recorded this same beat on the Stones record "Let's
Spend The Night Together" during the verses. In the 70s, Elton
John used this beat on his song "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road."
More recent examples of this beat can be found on Foreigner's
"Juke Box Hero" and INXS's "New Sensation." To me, the best
example of how this basic beat defines what rock drumming is all
about in its purist and rawest form is on AC/DC's "Back In Black."
This beat is so perfect for rock 'n' roll. It's like what the swing beat
is to jazz music: When you play jazz you swing, and when you
play rock, you rock! "Back In Black" definitely rocks!

Beat #2

Another beat that has worked its way from '60s rock 'n' roll into
the '80s is this one:

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——[

Once again, Ringo Starr played this beat on the following Beatle
songs: "You're Gonna Lose That Girl," "I Want To Hold Your
Hand," "She Loves You," and "Nowhere Man," to name a few.
Other songs from the '60s that had this same beat include the
Kinks' "Tired Of Waiting," Jan & Dean's "Dead Man's Curve," the
Animals' "It's My Life," and the Four Seasons' "Walk Like A Man."
In the 70s, Russ Kunkel used this beat on the Jackson Browne

song "The Pretender." A
Cougar's "Authority Sor
rhythm to this:

M jx

nd in the '80s, 1 used this beat on John
ig." 1 did, however, change the hi-hat

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■

Beat #3

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T ~LT

The Mamas and the Papas used this beat for their song "Califor¬
nia Dreamin'," and the Byrds used it on "Turn! Turn! Turn!" (Mike
Clarke used a cross stick for his backbeat.) The Searchers recorded
this beat on their song "Love Potion #9," and it can also be found
on the Beatles' "Drive My Car." The Stones recorded "Jumpin'Jack
Flash" and "Honky Tonk Woman" in the early 70s and used this
beat. In the '80s Stewart Copeland used it in the chorus of "Spirits
In The Material World," and Alan White of Yes used part of this
beat in "Owner Of A Lonely Heart."

Beat #4

. JO

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The Beatles used this beat for "I Saw Her Standing There" and
for "Misery." In the 70s, AC/DC used it for their song "Highway To
Hell," and I used it for John Cougar's song "Hurts So Good."

Beat #5

In the '60s there was a strong Motown influence in rock 'n' roll
music, which still exists. For example, the following beat was a
very popular beat that the Supremes used in their song "Stop In
The Name Of Love."

In the '60s, there were many examples of this beat in rock
music, like the Young Rascals' version of "In The Midnight Hour"
(solo section), the Rolling Stones' "Let's Spend The Night To¬
gether," the Dave Clark Five's "Glad All Over," and the Jefferson
Airplane's "Somebody To Love" and "Plastic Fantastic Lover." In
the 70s, Derek and the Dominos used this beat in the verses of
"Layla," and CSN&Y used it in the releases of their song "Ohio."

I used my own version of this Motown beat for the intros and
verses of John Cougar Mellencamp's "Paper In Fire."

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MODERN DRUMMER

Rock 'N' Roll

Beat #6

—X

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Creedence Clearwater Revival used this beat in the '60s for their
song "Fortunate Sun," and the Young Rascals used it for "In The
Midnight Hour."

Ginger Baker of Cream used a more funky version of this beat in
the song "White Room" that went like this:

CL,

4 * *iil

u — 4 * -—-* » r — -\

In the 70s, Levon Helm from the Band played the following
beat on the song "The Weight," and CSN&Y used it for "Ohio."
You can also hear it on the Stones' "Brown Sugar." (Charlie plays

his signature hi-hat part with this beat.)

, J 3 i ^ J '

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3 7

¥ *1

B-4

1 r □

Beat #7

' r -n

r -J——J . J.—J—i

3 n

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*-- *1

Ringo Starr played this beat on these Beatle songs: "Mean Mr.
Mustard," "Sexy Sadie," and "Dear Prudence." During this time
period the Buffalo Springfield also used this beat on their song
"Bluebird."

In the '80s, CS&N used this beat in their song "Southern Cross,"
but made the beat into a two-bar figure, with the drummer playing
16th notes on his hi-hat instead of 8th notes.

J v

J_J_xTjJ_j_j_^ J j j J_„

- > m ■!

— . * - -1

Beat #8

In the '60s, the Hollies used the following beat for a song called
"Bus Stop." In the 70s, Max Weinberg from the E Street Band used
a slight variation of this beat for "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out" and
"Born To Run" (verse and solo sections).

JCL

J J J >

- % - 1

' 7 =i

»-41

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--[

In the '80s, Stan Lynch played this beat on a Stevie Nicks recorc
called "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" (same version as Max
used on Springsteen's songs).

)

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p • i

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s m m m i

It's important to know that the previous beats exist, because
they have become a part of the foundation of rock 'n' roll music,
its sound, and its vibe. Once you can play the important rock
beats, you can then branch off and come up with your own
variations and combinations. This process will help you develop
your own sound and unique style of playing. igci

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MODERN DRUMMER

Photo by Rick Malkin

UP & COMING

ew drummers can say that they have
experienced the highs and lows of
being a professional player more ac¬
curately than Billy Goodness. For the last
two years, Billy has held the drum chair for
one of the brightest new stars in country
music, Ricky Van Shelton. Ricky and his
band have played just about everywhere in
the last two years, from obscure Texas dance
halls to the New Orleans Superdome, with
virtually every show bringing in capacity
crowds. Performances on nationally tele¬
vised broadcasts such as the Country Mu¬
sic Awards haven't hurt either. But the rise
to prominence that Van Shelton and com¬
pany have enjoyed is not taken for granted
by Billy, who has done his share of paying
dues.

"In high school I was in a rock band that
played tennis court dances, where we ac¬
tually played on the courts. We also put on
our own gigs at church halls. We would
put up posters to get people in to gigs like

that," Billy recalls fondly. "Later on, while I
was still in high school, there was this real
hot band in town called Sweet Feeling,
and I wanted to play with them real bad. I
heard that the drummer might be leaving,
because he had just gotten married, so I
went to their gigs every weeknight. I was
playing on the weekends with another band.

I would just sit there and memorize every
single thing they were doing. Some of the
guys thought I was too young, but the sax
player, Danny Lebate, saw how interested I
was in playing with this band. Finally, after
I just kept showing up, Danny came up to
me on a break and said, 'If you want to
audition so bad, come up next set and play
some tunes.' When I went up, he said, 'You
know the tunes, you call 'em.' I called
three or four of their original tunes so they
could tell I really had studied their stuff. I
learned a big lesson: Persistence pays off."

Born and raised in Rochester, New York,
the young Billy Goodness found marching

Billy

bands fascinating—especially the drum¬
mers. "The thing about marching band
drummers that impressed me," says Billy,
summing up his first encounters with the
drums, "was that they never had to stop
playing. I liked that." Billy participated in
several school bands and orchestras with¬
out the benefit of formal study, but it never
slowed him down. "In a way, I did have
some training," he says, "because I had
taken piano lessons when I was about six.
When I went to the drums, I could read the
books from what I had learned taking pi¬
ano lessons."

Some people are reluctant to discuss what
it took to reach the position they now hold.
But Billy will be the first to tell you how he
hung in there—with no apologies about it.
To support himself when drumming didn't
always make ends meet, he'd do whatever
odd job he could to pick up extra money.
Billy quips, "I've done a lot of crazy things.

I drove a school bus for a while, painted
apartments, taught, delivered pizzas—what¬
ever I could get."

Billy maintains that family and friends
are essential for the support and encour¬
agement they can provide when the chips
are down. He readily credits many people
for the position he is currently in. He also
believes that positive mental attitudes are
the cornerstones to success in the music
business, no matter what your individual
endeavor may be.

With all the high-profile performing he
does today, Billy still cites one of his great¬
est personal highlights as being the first
time he ever heard his own playing on the
radio for a jingle he cut. "Another bright
spot was when I did some production on
some tracks for a guy, and then ended up
producing his album and doing all the ar¬
rangements—skills I was later able to use
on my demo tape," Billy recalls.

Growing up in Rochester, Billy had the
good fortune to be exposed to drumming
great Steve Gadd, who was also a native of
that city. Billy found Steve's playing inspi¬
rational. It spurred him on, where many
drummers would put away their sticks in
discouragement after witnessing such mas¬
tery. After rising to the top of the list in
Rochester as both teacher and player, Billy
felt it was time to look to a bigger city. "I
had been gigging since I was 15 and was
working at Dynamic Studio as a drummer/
producer. I had already done a bunch of
demos and jingles, and had produced other
people. I realized I had to go somewhere
else to do what I wanted, like playing on
master sessions for albums."

At a clinic in 1985, Billy had a conversa¬
tion with Roy Burns, who encouraged him

MODERN DRUMMER

Goodness

by Michael Lee Briggs

to visit Nashville to check out the scene
and to look up Larrie Londin. Larrie, in
turn, promoted the idea of Billy moving to
Nashville and getting a job until things came
together for him. "Larrie told me that the
union hall was a good place to meet play¬
ers. So the last day I was in Nashville, I
went to the union hall and heard music
coming from inside. The country act Dave
& Sugar were in there auditioning keyboard
players. I went in and sat on a couch to
watch. On a break, I went up to some of
their people and told them I was thinking
about moving to Nashville and was look¬
ing for a situation. I gave them my resume
and tape and left town the next day. Right
after that, their drummer gave notice, and
they happened to have my tape and res¬
ume in hand." One week later, Billy re¬
ceived a call and took the gig with Dave &
Sugar, and moved to Nashville to take up
residence there. "My wife Valerie and I
were engaged at the time," says Billy. "She
had given me the money to visit Nashville.
There is no way I could have achieved
what I have without Valerie's support. My
family life is very important to me. I'm very
domesticated."

Billy continued to play with Dave & Sugar
until he heard about Ricky Van Shelton
from his friend Tommy Wells, who had cut
the tracks on what was to be Ricky's first
album. Tommy wasn't available to travel,
so he told Billy about the job and recom¬
mended him to Van Shelton's people—
which was enough of a reference for them.
Billy's ability, talent, and personality helped
to create a great working situation for all
involved.

As with most dedicated drummers, Billy
believes in the value of technical develop¬
ment to achieve a proficiency that allows
unconscious execution of the music. As a
teacher, he encourages his students to prac¬
tice with a metronome or to use the songs
on the radio to keep time while practicing
redundant rudiments, to help keep things
fresh. Billy relates, "I'm into songs, not just
the drumming. If you were to walk into my
house you'd see that I have a lot of 'drum¬
ming' records, but nine times out of ten
you'd hear pop music coming out of my
stereo. There are over 800 albums in my
house—not counting CDs and cassettes.
I've always listened to the song—from
Broadway shows to country to rock—al¬
though I do listen to the technical stuff
too."

Billy also focuses on the "feel" a drum¬
mer establishes when working with other
players. He cites Steve Gadd, Gary Ches¬
ter, Jeff Porcaro, Hal Blaine, and Bernard
Purdie as influences that helped shape his

attitude regarding "feel" drumming and di¬
rection.

About his practice philosophies, Billy
says, "I would never sit down with a record
and try to pick out that 'exact lick.' What I
would use is Stick Control and Advanced
Techniques For The Modern Drummer to
help develop coordination. I would never
practice slow and start speeding up, like in
high school when they teach rudiments and
call it 'open to closed.' It was always my
opinion that the drummer's job was to keep
the time straight, so you shouldn't practice
speeding up because then you'll speed up
when you play. I would practice things at
different tempos, but I'd set the metronome
to one tempo, practice, and then stop and
reset the metronome to a different tempo.
For set playing, I would practice along with
records to get the feel and structure of a
song. I'd always play my own fills, and I
encourage my students to do that also. I
also tell them to play with a variety of
different styles—and not to listen just to the
drummer, but to hear what everybody has
going on!"

Even though he works with a highly vis¬
ible artist like Ricky Van Shelton, Billy al¬

ways has time—or makes time—to talk
drums with anyone who has a question for
him. His consuming passion for drumming
gave him a solid playing foundation, while
his positive, Upbeat personality and enthu¬
siasm shines through in his playing. Being
the consummate perfectionist, Billy de¬
mands a lot from his equipment and en¬
dorses Pro-Mark drumsticks, Tempus drums,
Sabian cymbals, Evans drumheads, and
RIMS by PureCussion.

With six Top-10 hits and four Number-1
hits on the Country Music charts in 1988,
there would seem to be few hurdles left for
Billy to clear. But he hasn't got time to
relax; he is perpetually in motion. When
he isn't on the road, he plays with other
artists and pursues his fascination with pro¬
duction in the recording studio. "I've al¬
ways loved recording," says Billy, "espe¬
cially when you have a good song to start
with. I record at this little studio near my
house with my rock band or just do drum
and keyboard stuff on my own. In the stu¬
dio not only can I be a drummer, but a
vocalist, a composer, an arranger, and a
producer too!" isgi

BILLY GOODNESS

EVANS DRUMHEADS

\ RG Box 58 ■ Dodge City K$ * 67801
316-225-1308 ■ FAX 316-227-2314

Bass Omm
22

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SI 10, 12, 14, IS Resonajit Torn White

MODERN DRUMMER

ROCK

CHARTS

Transcribed by William F. Miller

W a"

■B A M r jML

FULL MOON

F i V E f

Phil Jones:

"RunnirY Down A Dream"

MUSIC KEY

This month's Rock Charts features one of the singles off of Tom Petty's recent solo album, Full Moon Fever (MCA-6253).
On "Runnin' Down A Dream," Phil Jones doesn't do anything too fancy. Instead, he just lays down a solid groove that
just jumps out of your car speakers! Phil varies the hi-hat pattern between quarter notes and 8th notes throughout, and
near the end of the tune he opens up the hi-hat a bit to add more excitement to the track. This is a great chart to play
along with because it's not very difficult to read and it really feels good. Give it a try!

There is one tricky section that appears two bars before letter C and 17 bars before letter E. At these points in the chart
a floor tom is indicated in the part, even though it sounds as if it may have been overdubbed. One way to play these
sections is by playing the hi-hat with the left hand and moving the right hand between the snare drum and floor tom. If this is too
difficult, leave the floor tom out.

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Introducing fearl's new Custom Classic Snare Drums, formed from a single piece
of hand selected solid rnaple. The idea isn’t new. but the patented shell forming

process and related technology definitely is. Custom Classic's thicker one-piece shell
(75 mm) doesn’t need inner glue rings for strength that can rob resonance, sustain

and contaminate the consistency of a smooth,
unobstructed air chamber.

But a pure classic sound is not all this drum
has going for it. New brass plated "bridge" type
minimum contact tugs, thick solid brass hoops,
and gold plated high carbon steel snare wire add
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outstanding instrument... a true custom classic

At age 10,
he couldn’t imagine
what it would feel like
to play the world’s
greatest drums.

DRUM TEACHERS

Modern Drummer is now gathering information on drum teachers around the world. We'll be
using this information to produce a Drum Teachers Listing that will encompass all styles of drumming.
The listing will be presented in a future issue of Modern Drummer as a special service for all MD
Readers.

If you teach drumming and would like to be included in the MD Teachers Listing, please fill out the
profile below (or a photocopy} and mail it in on or before February 15, 1990.

Mail your Profile to: Modern Drummer, 870 Pompton Avenue, Cedar Grove, New jersey 07009

Attention: Drum Teachers Listing

TEACHERS PROFILE

Name __

Address__

City -----. State —-Zip-

Telephone ( )

Other Teaching Locations Available dlYes dNo

Store Name __,_

Address ___

City --State —-- Zip -

Telephone { )

Will Teach At Student's Home: d Yes d No

Age:----

Years Of Playing:___

Years Of Private Instruction:_

Years Teaching: ______

Formal Education (Schools & Degrees):

I Professional Experience:

Books Or Articles Published:

Levels Taught:

Drum Styles Taught:

HU Beginner
d Intermediate
d Advanced

d Rock
d Funk
d Show
d lobbing
d Latin
□ Symphonic

□ Jazz
d Fusion
d Big Band
d Studio
d Rudi mental
d Other

Other Percussion Taught:

d Timpani Q Mallets
d Orchestral Percussion
d Latin Instruments
d Other

Areas Of Emphasis:

Teaching Aids Used:

d Reading d Technique

d Coordination
d Contemporary Styles
d Other

d Video d Electronics

d Recording Techniques
d Other

Currently Teaching: d Full-time d Part-time

Average Number Of Students Taught Per Week:_

Brochure Available: O Yes □ No

/viooeRn

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get your act together. What did that consist

of?

SR: They had to do the photos, and I had to
get outfits. I wasn't into it, with the horror
and making faces when you're taking pic¬
tures—the whole scene that went into
WASP. The hard part wasn't playing drums
for WASP, but getting into the vibe they put
off. It was a crash course in two weeks.
First you're normal, and then you're an
asshole.

RF: What did you do to get into that vibe?
Was it just, "Well, it's a job"?

SR: I wanted it so bad, and I knew what
they had going for them. At the time, I
really thought WASP had the chance of
becoming the second Kiss—from the way
the first album sounded, from the press
they got, and from their performance and
the management. When they told me I had
to do all the faces and everything, I thought,
"Screw it, I'll do it." Lessons on being a
ghoul. But I was really impressed with the
way they were running things, so I made
that much more of an effort.

RF: What did you do to learn the music in
two weeks?

SR: Same thing as Keel. I got the album,
listened to it, and rehearsed my ass off with
them until we left for England. During the
days, we did photo shoots and interviews,
and at night we rehearsed for eight hours.
This was for two weeks, so by the time
England came around, I was drained, and
it was almost a pleasure to get on with it.
RF: Beside the vibe and the faces and all
that, there was a whole show, theatrically,
that you had to learn. What went into that
show?

SR: It was the first time where I played with
a band that was very organized on stage.
Their stage show was organized almost a
little too much for me. It got a little bit
grating at the end of my time with WASP. It
was too precise. We were all on cues. We
tried to run it like a theatrical performance,
where everything was cued and Blackie
would dictate the meter.

RF: Explain the cues and how he dictated
the meter.

SR: We would know where different song
cues were. Each song was turned into an
event. We would stretch the middle sec¬
tions out and add new intros and endings,
and the song would be in there somewhere.
We were famous for our big endings. It was
also the first band where I was really sing-

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ing. I had a prominent singing part in the
background, so that was a different thing.
RF: Did that affect your playing?

SR: It did in a way, because I don't sing
anymore. I could do it, but I really had to
bear down and concentrate, and watch
Blackie dictate the meter, too. How he felt
that night would dictate how fast this thing
would go. His arm would go in a down¬
ward motion when he wanted to slow the
meter down. When he wanted to bring it
up and he felt he had to get that crowd
going, he would go on an upward motion
with his back towards me. So I'm singing,
playing the drums, and also watching this
dude run around dictating the meter. We
beefed about that a lot.

At first I was really impressed because
Blackie was so organized, but the biggest
mistake he made was firing the guitar player,
Randy Piper. It was a stupid reason that
had nothing to do with the band or the
music. Randy was really important to WASP
to keep the connection with the kids, and
Blackie fired this guy. Then Blackie dropped
the bass and gave it to Johnny Rod, and
started playing guitar again. It was not a
band anymore. He was making all the de¬
cisions. He was doing all the album cov¬
ers. It said "WASP," but it was his face, and
he was doing all the interviews. He would
come to rehearsal all pissed off because he
had been working all day, so during the
second world tour, I said, "Why are you
doing all this single-handedly? Why don't
you spread it out a little bit, which will take
some of the pressure off of you and get the
band involved so we look like a unit?" He
didn't dig that at all; he didn't want anyone
to challenge him. I knew I was out of there
sooner or later. I knew it wasn't going to be
the big dream I had; it wasn't going to be
Kiss, Part II.

Blackie started hinting that he wanted to
go solo. I was already looking for some¬
thing else, although I wasn't making it real
out front. I was just keeping my ear to the
ground. It was kind of a disappointment
that I had to be looking again, because I
realized that WASP wasn't going to do it. It
was a reality check. It was, "I can't believe
I'm looking for another gig!" Blackie was
more or less bullshitting me. He said he
wanted to make a change, and then I got
the gist of it. I said, "Oh, I see what you're
saying. You want me out of the band," and
he came clean and said, "Yeah, that's it." I

said, "You know, I'm an equal member of
this band and you can't kick me out of it,"
although I was really digging that I was
out. I went to the management and they
said, "These things happen." I just said,
"You know I'm going to go on and I'm
going to see you down the road, and I'm
going to be doing something bigger than
this thing. I'll see you in another day." And
I did see him in another day. Iron Maiden
needed an opening act at the Forum, and
they asked LA. Guns, not WASP. The man¬
ager was there with Iron Maiden, so I saw
him down the road.

RF: Did you come out ahead in the WASP
venture?

SR: I made money, but I lost money in

WASP, too. Blackie was running the whole
thing, and he kept the overhead so
enormous that we were continuously dig¬
ging a hole. WASP was a production deal,
too, so it wasn't set up like a regular record
deal where the four members of the band
were signed to Capitol directly. We went
through the management company, who
had a production company, and because
of their success with Iron Maiden, they were
able to get a lot more money out of Capitol
than WASP would have alone. But I learned
that most of the time it is better to be signed
to that label yourself, not the production
company. In that situation, the production
company comes out ahead because they
get to distribute the money. Even though I

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Trumbull, CT 06611

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was in the band and owned a quarter, I
was a secondary player as far as the money
coming in. So it was another lesson to keep
your eyes open on the business side too,
otherwise you can make a lot of money but
you won't get it. WASP was a classic case
of that.

RF: What happened after WASP?

SR: I went right over to S.I.R. with my drums
to start playing every day again. I rented
the small room for about $12.00 an hour
for four hours a day, three days a week. I'd
go in there and just play by myself, and
Tracii [Guns] and these guys were rehears¬
ing next door. It was identical to the WASP
situation, because they had just finished
their first album and were kicking their

drummer out. Tracii knew me for years and
he said, "Would you want to do this?" It
was a big step backwards from what I had
been doing. I just mean from the stand¬
point that these guys were going to play
clubs around here. They didn't have a tour,
they had very weak management, and I
had to sit down and think about it. I really
liked the band, and I thought they were
going to be happening, but it was a scary
time when I joined. That was in '87, and I
went from headlining the Long Beach Arena
in March with WASP to playing the Trou¬
badour four months later.

RF: Musically how did you feel?

SR: Much better. They let me open up in
this band. My drumming in WASP was

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pretty structured to the way Blackie heard
it. The whole band was structured to him.
Even in pre-production for the albums or
the tours, I played licks, fills—not all, but
75%—to what he was hearing. When I
joined L.A. Guns, they liked my drumming
and said, "Open up."

RF: What exactly do you mean by "open
up"?

SR: They said, "No boundaries, just play
the way you play. Play what you hear"—
even when we played the song from the
first album, which I wasn't on. It was like
letting me out of the cage! Freedom city!
On the second album, they let me go wild.
RF: In what areas did you have more crea¬
tive freedom?

SR: The songwriting, definitely—the five of
us wrote all the songs together. We would
bring in pieces and put them together. It's
the first time I've been in a band like that. I
think it was a blessing coming from WASP
because these guys were fans of theirs and
they really admired me from there. So there
was a little respect built in. When they
brought in pieces, they just let me go on
them—fills, endings, beginnings, every¬
thing.

RF: How do you compose the parts you
bringin?

SR: I'm left-handed and I play drums right-
handed, so I'm ambidextrous. I play right-
handed drums, but I play left-handed bass.
I'm just learning howto play bass. I can get
the root of the note down and show the
band that way. I think about a song in my
head and I sit down with Tracii or Mick,
one of the guitar players, and I sing the
actual progression to them and have them
play it back to me, and we'll put it down
like that. "Give A Little" is one that I wrote
in the Bzz in Chicago; it's something I just
always had.

RF: Why did you play right-handed drums?
SR: It's the way most drummers play. Back
when I started, I don't think there were
many left-handed drummers, and the
people I was looking at—Krupa, Rich,
Ringo, Charlie Watts, Ginger Baker, and
Cozy Cole—were right-handed, so I auto-

ddrum

THE WORLD LEADER
IN DIGITAL SAMPLING
25 Lindeman Drive
Trumbull, CT 06611

(203) 374-0020

S&H'AaA

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Voted by Members Of The Music Industry In The
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TALK TO ONE OF OUR EXPERTS
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matically played that way. I wrote left-
handed, but I never thought about playing
anything but right-handed.

RF: Were there any difficult tracks on this
album?

SR: The ones where I really had to bear
down were "Malaria" and "Magdalaine."
Those are the two long songs on the al¬
bum. We didn't want to write a safe album
this time. The first album they did was pretty
safe; there were 11 tunes that could have
easily been singles. We knew we had to
deliver at least six or seven of that type of
song this time, but we wanted a couple of
epics that had ups and downs in them, and
they're just structured differently than a
radio song. "Magdalaine" is sort of like
Zeppelin's "Achilles Last Stand," and "Ma¬
laria" is almost structured like Aerosmith's
"Sweet Emotion," but it's a real long piece
because the middle section breaks down
and we have tons of percussion going on.
Then it goes back to the song and breaks
down again for this other percussion sec¬
tion.

RF: What did you use on the percussion
breakdown?

SR: A number of percussive instruments,
from woodblocks to shakers to RotoToms
to timbales—you name it. What we wanted
to do was have just the kick drum keeping
the meter, and everything else layered on
top of it. Tracii is using a number of guitar
special effects too. It was fun.

RF: How are you going to do that live?

SR: We obviously won't have as many in¬
struments going at the same time, but I'm
going to improvise in that section and do
something different for the live show, some¬
thing just as exciting.

RF: How do you get the drum sounds you
want?

SR: I use all acoustic drums. I have tried all
the electronics, from Simmons and Dyna-
cord, etc. I don't put any of those systems
down, but they're not right for me. I have
tried every option a soundman could bring
to me to enhance the sound, but my drums
are really big, and I tune them really wide
open. There's not a lot of tape or pads on

ddrum

Real drums never sounded so good.
Digital drums never feft so good .
25 Lindeman Drive
Trumbull, CT 06611

(203) 374-0020

REPRINTS of most
MD Feature Articles
and columns ARE
available! Call the
office for a
price quote

my drums, and my snare drum is not trig¬
gered at all, and it stands up to any drum
that is triggered. I mean, I never heard
Buddy Rich or John Bonham with triggers.
I've experimented with a bunch of Tama
models, and I'm playing the Artstar II right
now.

RF: Double bass?

SR: I was playing double bass in the last
three bands I was in, but I'm back to single
kick, and it's great. It's so comfortable. And
I have one rack tom, two floor toms, and
not a lot of cymbals, so it's back to being
basic.

RF: Was there an adjustment going from
double bass to single bass?

SR: Mat all, because I really had the

double kick set up for looks. I didn't really
play it that much. I'd use it in the drum
solo, but never for any licks. I've always
played single kick, with the ride cymbal
mounted on the bass drum, and with the
one rack tom—the Buddy Rich setup—and
it's so comfortable. I am going to do a
drum break this year, and I wanted to do
something different, but I wanted to stay
acoustic, so I bought a timpani and I'm
going to incorporate it into my drum solo.
It's acoustic, but I can get pitches that sound
electronic out of it. It has the footpedal on
it, so I can adjust the tension and get a lot
of deep and high tones out of it, but still
stay in the acoustic mold.

RF: Aside from "Malaria" and "Magdalaine,"

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which are your favorites on the album?

SR: We already have the singles picked
out. One is "Rip And Tear," which is just a
straightforward rocker. We want to make
sure we nail our core audience. Once we
have them back in our camp again, we
want to release something like "It's Never
Enough," which is a song that is L.A. Guns
right to the "T," but the vocals and the
harmonies bring it to another level. It'll get
much more radio play than anything we've
ever done. It's sort of structured for the
wider audience. We don't want to just get
on Headbangers Ball. We want to get on
heavy rotation, and the only way to do that
is by thinking about structuring the songs
that way. A lot of people will say that we're

selling out to get on heavy rotation, but it's
not that at all, because we're happy with it.
It's something we did purposely to get more
mass appeal.

RF: Are you the official leader of the band?
SR: Yes, but when I say "leader," it's not
like I'm the boss. I make sure that the band
gets taken care of all the time. I've been
through so many record deals that I know
when something is right and when it's not.
I'm not bragging, but I found out the hard
way, so I do most of the business for the
band. I do all the contacts with the man¬
ager, the business manager, and the attor¬
neys, you name it. It's only because I'm
more experienced at it than they are.
They're all younger than I am, and for three

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of them, it's their first record deal.

RF: If you had the gig of your dreams, what
would that be?

SR: Remember I was talking about that solo
album I'd like to do? That's the gig of my
dreams. It would probably be an instru¬
mental gig, and it would probably be some¬
thing like Jeff Beck did with Blow By Blow
and Wired or something like Chick Corea
did with Return To Forever. I'm looking for
something that challenges me, and that's
where I'm ultimately going to end up, some¬
thing that is instrumental with musicians
who are the best at each position. It's not to
take anything away from any of the bands
I've been with or L.A. Guns, but it's like I'll
be on the tour bus and everybody will be
listening to all the rock shit, and I'll plug in
something like Wired. There are no vocals,
and everybody is just wailing on their in¬
struments, and a lot of rock musicians aren't
into that. I really feel like I'll have to do
that. I feel that rock is a job. I enjoy it to a
certain point as a musician and business-
wise, but in the stuff I want to do, I'm not
going to make a lot of money. I'm already
into this up to my neck, so I might as well
try to make some money so I can get to the
point where I want to go. And in the mean¬
time, I'll enjoy it. [«&»]

ddrum

THE WORLD LEADER
IN DIGITAL SAMPLING
25 Lindeman Drive
Trumbull, CT 06611

(203) 374-0020

( "An important new concept that increases the
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ON TAPE

PETER ERSKINE
Everything Is Timekeeping
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Time: 85 minutes
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DCI's latest treat is a video, with ac¬
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texture and theme development.

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ultra-slow tune is used to demonstrate concentrated control of
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through some uptempo straight-ahead jazz numbers, turns in some
beautiful ballad playing, and shines especially strong on
Abercrombie's haunting and lyrical "Ralph's Piano Waltz."

The video's level is listed as "beginner to pro," and in the ride
cymbal section, Erskine enlightens us with an observation proving
once again that back-to-basics re-evaluations are often eye open¬
ers for even the most advanced musicians. He recalls listening to
some of his early recordings and discovering that the cuts weren't
truly swinging. The ride cymbal beat, he decided, was the culprit.
Changing his approach to this same traditional jazz ride cymbal
beat, as he clearly demonstrates, resulted in a great improvement
of clarity and feel. This kind of sagely advice is worth more than
100 chops-building exercises. Everything Is Timekeeping is worthy
of many viewings, especially the performance segments, and while
you're digesting it all, you will be happy to know that Part II is
expected from DCI soon.

—Jeff Potter

HOW TO PLAY DRUMS

FROM DAY ONE

With Jim Payne

DCI Music Video

541 Avenue Of The Americas

New York NY 10011

Time: 54 minutes

Price: $29.95 (VHS/Beta)

How To Play Drums From Day One is,
as the title suggests, a video for the very
beginning drummer. The basic method
teacher Jim Payne utilizes on this tape is
one where the player vocalizes different
sounds for each drum or cymbal, and for
different combinations. For example, a
snare hit is vocalized as "a," a hi-hat is
"pic," and a hi-hat and snare hit simulta¬

neously is sounded out as "pac." By vocalizing simple beats and
techniques, suggests Payne, students are able to grasp these con¬
cepts more quickly.

Topics that the video covers include advice on how to buy
equipment, how to hold drumsticks, single strokes, open hi-hat
sounds, simple rock 'n' roll, blues, funk, and shuffle beats, reading
drum notation, fills, and two-hand hi-hat style. Payne demon¬
strates the various subjects with and without (unfortunately rather
cheap-sounding) keyboard accompaniment, and the entire tape
can be followed along using the included booklet. Payne's vocal¬
izing system seems like it would work very well. (The booklet's
liner notes say that the method was inspired by the vocal tradition
of Indian tabla instruction.) Payne seems very comfortable in front
of the camera, his presence and delivery are clear, and his fre¬
quent referrals to the written notation both in the booklet and on
the tape are very beneficial. One note about the booklet: The
musical example of a basic shuffle beat on page 33 seems to have
been mistakenly replaced by a duplicate of the two-hand hi-hat
pattern on page 35. An example of a medium blues shuffle is
correctly shown on page 34. Aside from this, though, the booklet
is quite lucid and helpful, one nice inclusion being suggestions of
popular songs where some of the beats that are covered can be
heard.

Overall, How To Play Drums From Day One is an excellent
introduction to drumset playing. It moves along at a nice pace,
covers a good deal of territory, offers several different camera
angles of each example covered, and is hosted by a very capable
clinician in the person of Jim Payne. This is one case where a
sequel should be highly anticipated.

—Adam Budofsky

DAVE WECKL
The Next Step
DCI Music Video
541 Avenue Of The Americas
New York NY 10011
Time: 80 minutes
Price: $39.95 (VHS/BETA)

Dave Weckl's The Next Step is a
follow-up to his impressive video
debut, Back To Basics. In this chock-
full 80 minutes, master Dave dis¬
cusses and demonstrates his wares
in a clear, well-organized format.
As is usual with DCI videos, it's pre¬
sented in a no-nonsense style with
quality audio and a merciful avoid¬
ance of any distracting clever cam¬
era or editing techniques. The vari¬
ous camera angles are used to their
best advantage, focusing on the

The first segment, "Time Playing," concerns internalizing of
subdivisions, the importance of a drummer's count-off, pulse nu¬
ance, and pointers on the different approaches required for play¬
ing with a lone click track versus playing with a sequencer. Dave's
jazzy solo here, exemplifying practicing over a click with loose
phrasing, is a beauty.

The ever-popular topic of "Groove Playing" is a segment also
offering good tips. Dave demonstrates the hi-hat method of rock¬
ing the sticks from shoulder to tip for pulse-enhancing dynamic
gradations. In discussing "Creating The Part," he demonstrates two
valid approaches to the same pre-recorded track. But the most fun
in this section is his demonstration of the technique that he and
Chick Corea have dubbed "playing backwards." This ear teaser
involves consistent time displacement of a particular pattern. Start¬
ing from simple examples, Dave expands the idea within a tune to
prove that, yes, it really can be used musically rather than just as a
pedantic exercise.

KIM HUE

EVERVTjpS [S TlMEJEEEEiai L.

W1TH

. . JOHN AIJERCHOMHir

X\tsr) MAKC JOHNSON

MODERN DRUMMER

"Odd Time Playing" is an especially helpful and practical sec¬
tion that teaches howto more easily feel 5, 7, and 9 meters and, as
might be expected, the "Soloing" section is a dazzler. The focus
here is the different approaches that should be considered when
playing within the very different contexts of soloing totally a Cap-
pella, over a comp, or within a piece of music. A set of exercises
are outlined that break down the basics of the alternating hand-to-
foot triplet and 16th-note licks that play so prominently in the tom
fill sound found in the Erskine/Gadd/Weckl school.

Many of the pre-taped tracks over which Dave plays live are
taken from his DCI cassette and book package, Contemporary
Drummer + One. For those who have studied that material, this
video will shed further light on the execution of those tracks. A
video picture is worth a thousand words in this worthwhile re¬
lease, and the playing segments are surely the highlights. Let's
hope that The Next Step is but one stride towards many more.

—Jeff Potter

LESDeMERLE
ROCK/FUSION DRUM
SET APPLICATIONS:

COMPLETE LESSON
PACKAGE/M
M&K Productions
818 Green Ridge Circle
Langhome PA 19047
Time: 78 minutes
Price: $39.95

This is a combination videotape-
and-book package that presents
the playing style and concepts
of Les DeMerle in an entertain¬
ing and educational manner.
Well-produced in terms of mul¬
tiple camera angles, splitscreens,
good sound, etc., the tape fea¬
tures Les in three formats: an
interview/discussion setup with
producer Kevin Gazzara, in
conversation and demonstrations directed at the viewer, and in
performance with his band, Transfusion. The accompanying book
offers transcriptions of the exercises and concepts that Les demon¬
strates, along with charts from the various tunes performed with
the band. Everything is clear, straightforward, and easy to work
with.

In terms of educational content, Les offers tips on how to incor¬
porate rudimental chops and finger technique into drumset play¬
ing, focusing especially on roll-and-paradiddle combinations that
can be used musically on the kit. He goes on to demonstrate a
large number of what he calls "rock/fusion beats," and then offers
an excellent segment on "drumset colors"—the use of mallets,
brushes, multi-rods, and bare hands on the kit to obtain a variety
of sounds. Ultimately, everything that Les demonstrates in the
"lesson" segments is reinforced in his "performance" segments
with Transfusion, so the musical application is made readily ap¬
parent.

It should be noted that Les DeMerle's playing and soloing style
comes a great deal more from the rudimental/big band school (a la
Rich, Bellson, Krupa, and Morello) than from the more contempo¬
rary jazz/funk school of, say, Dave Weckl or Steve Smith. This is
not surprising, since Les himself states in the video that he is "a
strong believer in tradition," and that he was influenced by the big
band drummers. He also spent 12 years playing in Harry James'
band, so it's easy to understand Les's approach to "fusion." Les
also cites a personal affinity for R&B music, and that, too, shows in
the heavy 2-and-4 backbeat grooves that he incorporates into his
rock/fusion beats. I don't state any of this to fault Les's style; he's a
dynamic player with tremendous technical facility. I only mention
it so that you'll be aware of what you'll be getting from Les: a lot of

sticking-oriented soloing, some solid, groove-oriented drumming
with the band, and a good dose of historical influence.

The only thing I found objectionable in the video was the little
"interview" segments interspersed throughout. With the exception
of one long segment where Les and Kevin Gazzara discuss Les's
background and personal philosophy, the others seem designed to
"set up" each instructional segment that follows. That would be
fine if Les didn't do exactly the same thing by himself during that
segment. I found this double-introduction a bit redundant. Other¬
wise, the tape is excellent, the accompanying charts are clear, and
the material is readily applicable.

—Rick Van Horn

METALMORPHOSIS
by Bobby Rock
Syntax Music Video
8033 Sunset Blvd., Suite 110
Hollywood CA 90064
Time: 87 minutes
Price: $49.95 (VHS only),
$59.95 for video and
accompanying workbook
At the beginning of this video,
Mr. Rock explains his concept
for Metalmorphosis basically as
the bringing together of different
drum styles into the heavy rock
format. What this means is that
certain elements of Latin, funk,
and other styles can be used in a
heavy rock situation, if properly
"metalmorphosized." In this
well-produced video, Bobby
really has his concept together;
he knows just what to say to explain his points, and he has the
technical ability to sit down and play his sometimes quite difficult
examples. For rock, heavy rock, and metal drummers, there's
some valuable information here.

Timekeeping is the first topic Bobby addresses, and he offers
suggestions regarding dynamics and how they affect beats, synco¬
pated beats, ostinato patterns, linear patterns, and Latin grooves,
all tailored for a heavy playing style. The timekeeping section ends
with Bobby performing his "monster" pattern, which is a rather
involved independence beat. With all of the examples presented,
Bobby thoroughly explains what he's doing so that there are no
mysteries. Other topics Bobby discusses include applying rudi¬
ments to a heavy-rock format, double bass drumming, and solo¬
ing. Although you may have heard a few of his licks before, many
of Bobby's ideas are very original and could be great inspiration
for the up-and-coming rock drummer.

Another outstanding point about this video is its look; many of
Bobby's solo sections are shot on film, while the interview por¬
tions are shot on videotape. It makes for a lesson that's more fun to
watch. Different locations are used as well, including interview
sections where Bobby is outside sitting on a dumpster, in the
control room of a recording studio, and even in a gym (during the
section on weightlifting)! There's just enough of these sections to
add to what's going on and not get in the way.

If you've seen any of the hard-rock drumming videos out today,
you may have noticed that many of them aren't that organized. On
Metalmorphosis, Bobby knows exactly what he wants to say and
makes his points directly into the camera—no scripts or Tel-
ePrompTers—and that's also an advantage. Overall, the point that
Bobby makes in this video is that there is room for creativity and
great playing in heavy rock and metal, and on this tape he proves
it.

— William F. Miller

MODERN DRUMMER

TRACKING

TisThe

Season Of The
Sequel

by Emil Richards

A few months ago I worked on a lot of the big movie sequels that
came out this past summer. There was a great deal of percussion
used on these scores, and this month I would like to talk about
some of them. Some of the sequels I worked on included: Star Trek
V (Jerry Goldsmith composer), Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade
(John Williams composer), Ghostbusters II (Randy Edelman
composer), Lethal Weapon II (Michael Kaiman composer), and
Karate Kid III (Bill Conti composer).

Prior to most of these sessions, each composer contacted me to
tell me they wanted to come by the warehouse where I store all of
my instruments, to discuss which ones would be used on the
sessions, and how many percussionists would be needed to per¬
form the music. It is most gratifying to know that most of the
Hollywood movie composers really do their "homework." By that
I mean they take a great deal of interest in the percussion section

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and in the instruments they use for their scores. I might add that
the above mentioned composers are extremely knowledgeable of
ethnic percussion instruments, their origin, and their applications.

It seems that there is a trend toward less electronic, more or¬
ganic percussion in film writing. Not that there is less electronics,
but rather there is more live percussion being used again. I think
we will find that electronic keyboards and percussion will find
their place as a separate section of the orchestra, and that there
will be a continuing trend back to live, organic percussion.

Because of this attitude towards live percussion, all aspiring
percussionists should learn as much as they can about as many
different areas of our section as possible. You should encourage
your schools, your drum shops, and your P.A.S. chapters to sched¬
ule percussion clinics of every standard and ethnic area of percus¬
sion. If you are a mallet major, you should consider the cimbalom,
the santir, and the dulcimer as part of your mallet awareness. If
you are a hand percussion major, you should consider all of the
frame drums, tabla, and udu drums. If you are a percussionist, you
should consider yourself a "student" for life, because even if you
live to be 100, you will not have covered all there is in our field!

Getting back to "the sequels," I've included the first two pages
from some of the parts I had to play. Note cue 10/11 M 3/1 from
Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade. There are six players required,
four listed on one score, two on the other. Each player has from
two to ten instruments to play. John Williams doesn't use a click
track very often, so his conducting was approximately 8th note =
120 .

Note cue 12 M 1 from Ghostbusters II. I played the bell part to
this and used a LRR sticking all the way through. It can also be
played hand-to-hand starting with the right hand. The tempo for
this piece was quarter note = 120.

Note cues 5 M 2 pt.1 from Lethal Weapon II. Many times your
music is written as a percussion score with all four lines written
out. This can be helpful, as you get a chance to follow the other
lines as you are playing your own line. The tempo for this piece
was quarter note = 120.

In cue 5 M 2 pt.2 from Lethal Weapon II, it says at the beginning
of the cue "8 Free To Bar 1." This is an indication of eight free
clicks (tempo of 180 on metronome) before bar A, where the parts
come in. One other thing to notice on these parts is the number of
staffs shown. Even though there are lines for four players, notice
how the part shows three staffs for three players, then two staffs for
two players, then back to three players, then four players, and then
to one staff for one player. This can be quite confusing, but you
must get used to all reading possibilities.

Notice how on every composition the instruments are all listed
at the upper left-hand corner of the first page. We have instructed
all of the copyists to list all of the instruments required in a piece
this way, so we won't have any surprises when we turn the page.
Also, this allows us to know what to set up for each cue.

MODERN DRUMMER

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MODERN DRUMMER

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MODERN DRUMMER

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mers turned out for the Gene Krupa com¬
petition, sponsored by Pic magazine. This
helped his reputation. At about this time,
Stoller began studying with Henry Adler, a
New York drummer who was making a
major reputation for himself as a teacher.
Stoller's experience with Adler, in addition
to what he had already learned from Willy
Kessler, provided the strong foundation he
would take into major big bands.

Adler got Stoller jobs with the Van Alex¬
ander and Teddy Powell bands. The drum¬
mer went on the road for the first time. His
experiences, some of them quite humor¬
ous, still make him chuckle. Musicians
would play tricks on one another and "put
on" leaders as well. It was all a matter of
youthful energy and mischief, none of it
really harmful. Also during this time pe¬
riod, Stoller worked with Raymond Scott,
who had an experimental ensemble that
tested the youngster's musicianship.

In 1941, at age 16, Stoller got a key call.
"Freddy Goodman, Benny's brother, phoned
me from Buffalo and asked me to rush up
there," he recalls. "Benny and the band
were at the Chez Buffalo Theater, and Ralph
Collier had to leave to get a cyst operation.
It was very exciting for me to get that call,
after all, Benny had one of the top bands. I
don't remember just how I played. But I
must have been on the right track. I got
along fine with Benny—I guess I was too
naive to know whether he was giving me
the famous 'ray' or not—and I stayed on
until he broke up the band a few months
later.

"Mel Powell, the great pianist and ar¬
ranger/composer, joined the band the day
after I did. He was just a year older than
me. I recorded his 'Mission To Moscow'
with the band, as well as several things that
Dave Matthews arranged for Peggy Lee—'I
Got It Bad,' 'All I Need Is You.' All in all, it
was a good experience. I did my job—kept
time, established a good groove. Those were
the two things Benny wanted. I dealt with
the show pieces like 'Sing, Sing, Sing' with¬
out too much difficulty; my studying was a
factor in being able to play material like
that."

By this time, Stoller had left high school.
The demands of an increasingly successful
career made further attendance impossible.
People around the music business had taken
a liking to him. Before long, he joined Les
Brown fora brief period, then was engaged
by singer Vaughan Monroe. The band was
hot. It drew great crowds everywhere it
played. In addition, Monroe's band was
featured on the weekly Camel radio show.
It certainly was not as interesting and pro¬
vocative as the one led by BG. But the
Monroe stint and the three years Stoller

ddrum

Real drums never sounded so good.
D^gital drums never felt so good.
25 Lindeman Drive
Trumbull, GT 06611
(203) 374-0020

MODERN DRUMMER

spent with the Charlie Spivak Orchestra
proved to be important, because they pro¬
vided musical situations that helped round
him out as a drummer.

Who was Alvin Stoller listening to dur¬
ing this key developmental phase? What
kind of drumming did he favor? "Jo Jones
with Basie. The guy was just something
else to me. He had his own identity. You
could always tell it was Jo by the way he
played the hi-hat. His lightness and his abil¬
ity to play the right things at the right time
further identified him.

"Drummers in those days had their own
signature. Sid Catlett did. Gene Krupa was
a great individual. O'Neill Spencer with
John Kirby had his own thing with brushes.
Certainly you could recognize Chick! Later
Max Roach and Don Lamond had an effect
on me; these are two more guys who cer¬
tainly developed their own way of doing
things. "What I tried to do through the years
was assimilate all the good stuff I heard
from a variety of people and play it my
way.

"I loved Buddy Rich more than any other
drummer," Stoller continues. "But I never
tried to duplicate what he did. You couldn't,
and I didn't want to. Every drummer has
his own thing, his own 'fingerprints.' You
don't interpret the same way as another
guy. You don't have the same physical
strength. Everyone is gifted with creativity
of his own. To find and develop it is the
musician's responsibility.

"Buddy was a genius; it's as simple as
that," Stoller continues. "He was a fire in a
band. His sound, his time, the things he
played behind a band, his short and long
solos—all these things uplifted the music.
He wasn't a drummer who just did a very
capable job. He followed Cliff Leeman into
the Artie Shaw band. Cliff was great; he
was on the big Shaw hit, 'Begin The Be-
guine.' Then along came Buddy, and he
brought a unique feeling of life and crea¬
tivity to the band. Buddy was sprinkled
with a different kind of star dust!

"I first met Buddy when I was a kid—
about 15. I knew his brother Mickey; we
played in bands in Brooklyn. Finally Buddy
and I got together and took to one another.

I used to stay with the Rich family at the
house in Brighton Beach. Many a day I
went to work with Buddy—to the Astor
Hotel or to the Paramount Theater, where
he was appearing with the Tommy Dorsey
Band—and just watched and listened. The
days would usually end at Nathan's in
Brooklyn, where we'd get some of those
delicious hot dogs. They might not have
been the healthiest thing to eat, but Buddy
loved hot dogs with ketchup."

Stoller pauses, then smiles, saying,
"Buddy was a central figure in my life. Not
only was he a dear friend and a model, he
was a guy I followed into various work
situations. The first was the Tommy Dorsey
band, in 1945. Buddy wanted to have his
own band.

"I was tired of working with Charlie
Spivak; I had done everything with the
band, including two pictures in Hollywood:
Pin Up Girl and Follow The Boys. It was
time for a change. I was at New York's
Commodore Hotel with Spivak. I knew
Buddy wanted to leave Dorsey. Almost
every afternoon I'd go to Tommy's rehears¬
als nearby at the 400 Club. I knew Dorsey's
charts from the records and from listening
to the band in person. I sat in with TD af¬
ternoons and played with him in the eve¬
nings between my own sets at the Commo¬
dore. Dorsey tried maybe 25 or 30 drum¬
mers and wasn't pleased. I kept coming
back to sit in. I guess he finally noticed me
and liked what I did, because I was hired.
It was a good thing for both Buddy and me.

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"Moving into the Dorsey band," says
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Tommy was super demanding. I had never
worked for anyone like him before. One
thing I'll say, though: He got results.

"But after a while he got to you. There
were warnings not to rush tempo, not to

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MODERN DRUMMER

drag tempo, the constant questioning of
your work. One night we had a bit of a
scene. And that's when he came up with
that classic quote that broke up a lot of
people. He said, There are three SOB's in
the world: you, Buddy Rich, and Hitler.
And I have to end up with two of three.' I
thought, 'Hitler! What the hell does Hitler
have to do with Buddy and me?' I told
Buddy and he fell out.

"The experience with Dorsey, despite the
difficulties, was important," Stoller insists.
"I got to play with great musicians like
Buddy DeFranco, Ziggy Elman, Charlie
Shavers, and Bommie Richman. And the
band was both a fantastic dance and show
band, and played jazz things well—not like
Woody Herman or Count Basie. But the

TD band could swing.

"I sometimes listen to some of the rec¬
ords we made during the two years I was
with the band—'Then I'll Be Happy,' 'The
Song Is You,' the Show Boat album—and
they remind me of the good things, not just
all the hard work. We were supposed to
remake 'Hawaiian War Chant' and feature
Charlie Shavers and Ziggy on trumpets, but
we never got around to it. We did make a
picture, The Fabulous Dorseys. I enjoyed
that."

Finally, in 1947, Stoller left Dorsey and
returned to New York, where he did a great
variety of work before leaving for Los An¬
geles in 1948 and still another career. While
still on the East Coast, he performed with
the Lester Lanin society orchestra and ap¬

peared with the Alvy West little band at the
Strand Theater; he also played with the
Dick Rogers band at the Hotel Edison, the
Vincent Lopez Orchestra at the Hotel Taft,
and the George Hall band at Roseland.
And he was the drummer at Tony Pastor's
in Greenwich Village for a period of time.

"There are some great memories from
that period," Stoller notes. "I got a job with
the Sy Oliver big band. Most of the guys
had been with Jimmie Lunceford. It was a
great experience. One night in Baltimore,
several of the Ellington musicians came over
after finishing at the Hippodrome Theater
and sat in. We played a 'header'—a head
arrangement—and the band romped. The
pulse was so strong that the floor of the
place actually moved up and down as the
dancers did their thing with the music. It
should have been recorded. But anyway
it's recorded in my spirit. I loved working
withSy.

"Equally memorable was the time I spent
on New York's Swing Street—52nd Street—
working with Charlie Shavers, and a bit
later with saxophonist Flip Phillips and
trombonist Bill Harris, who had been in
the Woody Herman First Herd. I subbed
for Dave Tough in the Phillips/Harris group
for three weeks. I can't tell you how excit¬
ing that was, with people like Art Tatum—
the great one—and Sarah Vaughan coming
by to sit in.

"One of the most instructive gigs I had
was subbing for the percussionist and work¬
ing for conductor Paul Ash at the Roxy
Theater. This is the sort of thing young drum¬
mers don't get to do today. You had to hold
together a mammoth stage presentation or
ice show. This was how it went down: The
night before you came on the job, you
stationed yourself in the wings of the thea¬
ter and watched and listened as the show
progressed; you didn't rehearse with the
band or even have a chance to go over the
show. You had to absorb what was hap¬
pening that one time. Sometimes they let
the drummer be on hand for another show.
And then, the next morning, you had to do
the job. It was stressful, but it was wonder¬
ful training. You literally were forced to
produce! It made a better musician out of
you.

"That was the sort of training a drummer
got in New York," Stoller explains, adding,
"Conductors and band leaders expected you
to be able to do everything, particularly if
you'd had good teachers and an extensive
background. New York offered the oppor¬
tunities to have varied musical experiences.
One of the best I had was with Sinatra at
the Capitol Theater. The show featured
Frank, the Skitch Henderson Orchestra—
for which I was the drummer—and the then-

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MODERN DRUMMER

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unknown Will Mastin Trio, starring a bundle
of energy and talent named Sammy Davis,
Jr."

As if this weren't enough, Stoller studied
mallets with Moe Goldenberg and Phil
Kraus, and timpani with Saul Goodman.
He certainly wasn't lazy. But he preferred
the warm weather of California, which sup¬
posedly encourages indolence and a
'manana' attitude. In 1948, Stoller drove
out to LA. with saxophonist Irv Roth and
started a new life.

He explains more fully: "I loved the work
in New York, the learning; I even got into
Latin percussion shortly before I left. But I
had fallen for the California thing, as it was
then. I had been out there a couple of
times with Spivak. You could park your car

and not lock it. The sand was clean at the
beaches; the air still was okay. And there
weren't that many people. It got in my
blood.

"When I arrived out here, though, the
work scene wasn't too good. All my back¬
ground meant nothing. There were few
clubs, and whatever there was—the Club
47 on Ventura Boulevard and the Hang¬
over on Vine Street—were Dixieland. I
worked casuals, strip joints, whatever there
was. Then the Empire Room opened in
Hollywood. Georgie Auld, who had made
such a great reputation with Goodman,
Shaw, and with his own big bands, took an
eight-piecer in, and it worked out well. It
was a pretty modern band; Billy Byers, the
trombone player, did most of the charts,

and we recorded for Albert Marx's Discov¬
ery label. Right away the word got around
that we were 'New York beboppers.' Hol¬
lywood was pretty conservative back then.
But the band added a little something to
music. It made a contribution.

"In Georgie's band, I applied what I had
learned from Max Roach on 52nd Street.
He was an innovator at the time, and my
approach to time changed a bit—more left
hand, more accents with the right foot. I
admired him. But I couldn't say I turned
into a bop drummer. My swing roots were
too strong."

Stoller didn't really get something going
in L.A. until he made a recording with his
friend Mel Torme, called "Careless Hands."
It was a hit for Torme and helped promote
the drummer in town. There's no short-cut
to anything, according to Stoller. You have
to wait your turn, then prove yourself when
given the opportunity.

Jobs began coming his way. He did The
Bing Crosby Show, subbing for Nick Fatool,
Club 15 with Jerry Gray's band, and played
with Bob Crosby—all on radio. He met
and worked with Billy May at this time,
also on Club 15. The relationship with May
mushroomed into a major association.
Stoller made a May album with singer Yma
Sumac and joined the Billy May band that
became such an enormous success—the
one with the highly identifiable saxophone
sound. It was a major orchestra of the
1950s, including such other heavy Holly¬
wood players as trumpeter Conrad Gozzo,
pianist Jimmy Rowles, guitarist Al Hen¬
drickson, and bassist Joe Mondragon. A
number of innovative May albums fol¬
lowed—some by the basic band, others
with enhanced instrumentation.

"I got involved with Sinatra on a con¬
tinuing basis in the early 1950s through
Billy and Nelson Riddle, who were doing
most of Frank's charts," Stoller explains. "I
did all of his albums and singles for quite
some time. Things kept getting busier and
busier. I played with several bands at the
Hollywood Palladium. Whenever anyone
had drummer trouble, I was fortunate
enough to get the call. Among the leaders I
worked for were Claude Thornhill, Harry
James—I also was with Harry several times
filling in for Buddy—Ray Anthony, Ralph
Flanagan, Jerry Gray. I went East with Jerry's
band, and we did a few things around New
York.

"The most important call I got in the
early 1950s, though, was from Earle Hagen
at 20th Century-Fox Studios. He was work¬
ing with orchestrator Herb Spencer. They
were involved with many TV shows and
were looking for a 'time' drummer who
could play some mallets. As I told you, I

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MODERN DRUMMER

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had some mallet training and experience with timps, and I could
read very well. But I was hesitant and turned Earle down.

"Dave Klein, the contractor, called my wife, Mary, and said, 'Is
Alvin crazy? This is a great chance!' But to tell you the truth, I was
scared; I didn't want to step on my toe. But they kept at it, saying,
'We love the recordings you've done; your drumming is great,'
and all that stuff. They insisted they would work with me. That
wasn't exactly true.

"In studio work, you're always under the gun. You're expected
to play parts, no matter how difficult they are. I'll tell you one
thing: I've prayed a lot over the years doing TV and films. It's that
much of a challenge, no matter how deep your background is.
How best to describe TV and film work? It's a matter of being
precise and right, all the time. It's brain surgery, that's what it is.
And every operation has to be a success. There are no failures—a
failure and you're gone. You just go in and lay it down. There are
to no ifs, ands, or buts.

"I had one teacher out here who was very helpful—Murray
Spivak. He helped me put everything together—at least from a
technical point of a view. You need teachers who really know—
unless you're Rembrandt or Buddy Rich.

"I also developed an 'attitude.' I didn't question anything,"
Stoller explains. "I just did the job. I made every adjustment. I
might do a Tex Ritter record date in the morning, a film like West
Side Story in the afternoon, and a Sinatra session at night. Each
calls on a different aspect of your talent and background. What it
amounts to, really, is you do what is asked. It's as simple as that."

Buddy Rich made possible a great deal of employment for
Stoller. If Rich had a tiff with someone or became ill, Stoller was
called. Norman Granz, the great impresario and recording man,
opened up a whole new field for the drummer—often because of
the difficulty he had with Rich. Stoller toured with the star-studded
Jazz At The Philharmonic troupe, and he made records with a
variety of Granz artists on the Verve, Clef, and Norgran labels.

"There were so many record dates," Stoller remembers. "I did
Billie Holiday albums, stuff with Art Tatum—I even recorded with

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MODERN DRUMMER

the Ink Spots. Oscar Peterson and I often
were colleagues on sessions. There were
dates with Roy Eldridge, Ben Webster,
Sweets [Harry Edison]. These led to many
others, like with Buddy—I did his vocal
LPs—Ray Brown, Benny Carter. You know,
I've even made records with Eddie Pea¬
body, the banjo player.

"Let's put it this way," Stoller continues.
"In order to perform out here—when the
scene was live music, as opposed to syn¬
thesizers—you had to be capable of playing
any style, walk in and do things as a musi¬
cian. You had to be more than just a drum¬
mer."

At one point in our interview, Stoller and
I endeavored to make a list of his credits,
particularly in TV and motion pictures. We
started off with The Danny Thomas Show,
The Ray Bolger Show, The Andy Griffith
Show, Happy Days, Emergency, I Love
Lucy, films like Jumbo, Porgy And Bess,
and a bunch of Elvis Presley films at MGM.
He kept coming up with others: The Mary
Tyler Moore Show, Little House On The
Prairie, Man nix, Matlock, more films—
Bullitt, Funny Girl, Planet Of The Apes,
Sweet Charity; it was and is an endless list.

"The memories come back as we talk,"
Stoller smiles. "There were some live gigs
and records and TV with Gene Kelly, Betty
Grable, Sammy [Davis], Sarah Vaughan,
Nat 'King' Cole. I remember we had nine
drummers when we did the TV version of
Shogun. Maurice Jarre wrote the music,
and there were all kinds of native Japanese
percussive effects. On one segment of Spy
with Bill Cosby and Bob Culp, we had a
number of drummers participating. That was
great!"

How about Stoller's experiences with
Fred Astaire? "I'm glad you asked me about
Astaire," Stoller grins and goes on. "He
loved music and musicians. We did a lot of
work together in the 1950s and early
1960s—records and his TV specials. I
helped him put the TV shows together,
musically. Astaire, pianist Bobby Hannock,
and I rehearsed each show, bar by bar, step
by step. It was tedious but ultimately worth¬
while.

"We rehearsed six or seven days a week.
Hermes Pan was the choreographer. Much
of the time, we did our work in a mortuary.
How about that? The place was Willem
Mortuary on Santa Monica, here in L.A.
Astaire didn't want to be bothered; he
needed privacy. They had this big room
that was perfect for our needs. Astaire liked
it. One funny thing happened there. There
was this fellow who used to stand in the
doorway of the room and watch us. I asked
him, 'Who are you? And what are you
doing here?' He turned out to be the em-
balmer."

Credits keep piling up for Stoller as the
years pass. Except for a brief period—a
year and a half—when he worked with
Sam Donahue's house band at the Nugget
in Sparks, Colorado, he has been on the
scene in Hollywood steadily for more than
40 years. A dominant presence in record-

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MODERN DRUMMER

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ing and studio work, Stoller also has been
seen and heard on jazz and popular music
gigs in the L.A. area with performers like
Sammy Davis and Sweets Edison.

Stoller's plans? "I want to work. I still
love to play," he declares. "I was a bit ill
last year. But now everything seems to be
righting itself, and I'm becoming fully ac¬
tive again. I plan to record with my wife
Mary Hatcher; she has appeared on Broad¬
way and starred in some pictures out here.
I continue with my hobbies—riding, rop¬
ing, and breeding horses, and collecting
western firearms. I mostly collect antiques—
American Indian drums and other kinds of
percussion instruments."

For those who might not have had the
good fortune to hear Stoller play, he, like

other formidable drummers, has a legacy
that provides that opportunity. His record¬
ings with Tatum, Benny Carter, and others
tell his story as well as anything. Stoller
likes the version of "Goody, Goody" he
made with Ella Fitzgerald on Verve. "The
feeling is good; Nat Pierce wrote the chart,"
he says. He thinks a lot of the Sinatra things
he did with Nelson Riddle on Capitol and
Reprise—the most recent being "Mrs.
Robinson." He also singles out the Billy
May album Sorta Dixie, Sorta May (Capi¬
tol), and Let Yourself Co, a Riddle set (Capi¬
tol).

"Another I'm particularly partial to is Jim¬
mie Lunceford In Hi Fi [Capitol] by Billy
May, featuring a number of the Lunceford
musicians and some top studio guys. It's far

more than a re-creation," Stoller insists. "Still
another album that I like is The Music From
M Squad [RCA Victor], with an orchestra
conducted by Stanley Wilson. It showcases
some great musicians—the great composer
and conductor John Williams on piano,
trumpeters Conrad Gozzo and Don Fager-
quist—and the performances are enthusi¬
astic, full of feeling, and precise enough to
make the music really work."

The latter two albums feature particu¬
larly representative and impressive Alvin
Stoller drumming. On the M Squad set, he
mingles a crisp swing style, stemming from
Buddy Rich, with modern techniques that
are the direct result of the effect Max Roach
had on him in the 1940s. His perform¬
ances are solid; Stoller is in control and
provides a fluid pulse, a contemporary feel.
The Lunceford offering is a reflection of
Stoller's roots in swing music. He does an
effective, highly authentic job making the
Lunceford music live again. His best work
is on "Well, Alright Then"; a smooth, eight-
bar press roll solo, in the tradition of the
late Jimmy Crawford, is a highlight of the
track. More good examples of Stoller solos
can be found on Hi Fi Drums (Capitol), a
package co-starring Buddy Rich and Chuck
Fiores (with Woody Herman), Louie Bellson
(with the Just Jazz All-Stars), Dave Black
(with Duke Ellington), and Stoller, Stan
Levey, and Irv Cottier with the Billy May
Orchestra.

"I've had a full bouquet of flowers, a
great career," Stoller concludes. "I've been
blessed, having had the chance to play all
sorts of music with great players and dyna¬
mite conductors. I was fortunate to come
on the scene during the big band era when
New York was in its beautiful heyday. And
my luck held. I moved to L.A. when things
were just really starting up in TV and films.
And I became a part of much of the music
made out here. Time and experience
haven't changed my feelings. I'm still en¬
thusiastic about music and drums and the
challenge of new work. I look forward to
what tomorrow might bring." qb

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Real drums never sounded so good.
Digital drums never felt so good.
25 Lindeman Drive
Trumbull, CT 06611

(203) 374-0020

MODERN DRUMMER

Thank you readers of Modem
Drummer for voting me into
the 1989 Hall of Fame

Carl

Palmer

CARL PALMER

Applied

Rhythms

vfooeR/i

DfUimmeR Publications, I nr.
Distributed by Hal Leonard Publications

INDUSTRY HAPPENINGS

1989DCI

CHAMPIONSHIP

RESULTS

Drum Corps International returned to
Kansas City for the second year in a row
(instead of the previously announced
Montreal) for the 1989 edition of "The
Summer Music Games: The Sound and
Fury." A full week of competition and
festivities began in the concert hall and
ended on the football field.

A unique event took place on Monday
evening, August 14th, in the downtown
Kansas City Music Hall: a joint concert
featuring the Kansas City Symphony and
the Phantom Regiment Drum & Bugle
Corps (from Rockford/Loves Park, Illinois).
The orchestra opened the show, and then
was joined on stage by the Regiment's 70-
member horn line for a performance of
"Elsa's Procession To The Cathedral" from
Wagner's Lohengrin. Following the
concert, the Phantom Regiment played
their entire 1989 musical program in the
outdoor plaza across the street from the
Music Hall. It was a moving experience to
see two seemingly opposite disciplines—
marching and symphonic—come together
as one to share a common bond of music.

Tuesday evening featured the Class A
and A-60 championships. The Class A
winners were the Ventures, an all-female

corps from Kitchener/Waterloo, Ontario,
Canada. The A-60 winners were the Blue
Stars from LaCrosse, Wisconsin.

The individuals competition allowed
corps members to perform solos in an
independent setting from their full corps'
performance. This popular event has
drawn so many participants and spectators
that it was expanded over a two-day
period (August 15-16). The Star of Indiana
(from Bloomington, Indiana) had two
winners from their drum line: snare
drummer Rich Viano (who scored a 98.0)
and timpanist Kirk Gay (who scored a
96.0). For the second year in a row, "Best
Individual Keyboard" was awarded to the
Madison (Wisconsin) Scouts' Mike
Knudson, who scored a perfect 100. J.J.
Pepitone of Dutch Boy (from Kitchener/
Waterloo, Ontario) won the multi-tenor
award with a score of 99.0. Two percus¬
sion ensembles from the Santa Clara
(California) Vanguard came in first and
tied for second, scoring 99.0 and 98.0,
respectively.

A feature new to the week of competi¬
tion was the addition of the top 12 corps
to the Thursday preliminary competition.
That night saw the Phantom Regiment
scoring one-tenth above the Vanguard,
only to have the placings reversed after
DCI removed a two-tenth penalty
(regarding the grounding of non-percus¬
sion items in the pit area). This was an
indication of how closely contested the

title was going to be.

The "prelims" performances on Friday
evening (August 18) were to be the last
ones of the season for two corps in last
year's top 12. The Sky Ryders from
Hutchinson, Kansas and the Spirit of
Atlanta from Atlanta, Georgia tied for 14th
with a score of 82.2. For the second year
in a row, Dutch Boy took the "unlucky
13th" position, just barely missing out on
a top-12 spot in the finals by three-tenths
of a point.

The 1989 World Championship
competition took place on Saturday
evening (August 19) in Arrowhead
Stadium. The contest began with a
welcome return by the Crossmen from
Westchester, Pennsylvania. A former top-
12 corps, they continued their climb back
with a score of 84.0 for 12th place (13.3
in drums). Their repertoire of "Wind
Machine," "The Waltz," and "How High
The Sun (Moon)" showcased the corps'
jazz style. Next up were the zany antics of
the Velvet Knights from Anaheim,
California, who scored an 87.0 for 11th
place (13.6 in drums). The corps traveled
to Rio de Janeiro for "Yo Mambo"
followed by "Velvet Knights In Tunisia"
(which is self-explanatory!). The drum
solo expanded the concept of bass
drumming: Twelve set bass drums were
carried out on the field (complete with
foot pedals!) to be played by members of
the snare and tenor lines, which high¬
lighted the music with lots of "punch."

Another corps welcomed back to the
top 12 was the Freelancers from Sacra¬
mento, California. Coming in tenth place
with a score of 87.3 (12.7 in drums), they
performed music of John Williams,
including selections from E.T. and Empire
Of The Sun. Following a year of inactivity
in 1986, it was good to see another
polished corps from California back in the
spotlight.

The most miraculous metamorphosis of
the summer had to be Suncoast Sound
from Tampa Bay, Florida. Beginning the
summer in extreme financial difficulty, the
corps rallied themselves as the months
progressed, finally scoring an 88.0 (13.1
in drums) for ninth place. Their contempo¬
rary program was based on "Florida
Suite," an original composition for the
corps by Robert W. Smith. In the "Native
Rites" movement, the pit creatively used
various woodblocks and log drums, along
with chanting in the horn line.

Coming in eighth place with a score of
90.3 (13.0 in drums) were the Bluecoats
from Canton, Ohio. Known for their "big
band" style and sound, the corps'
repertoire included "Johnny One Note,"
"My Funny Valentine" (complete with a
"surrealistic heart"-shaped drill), and
"Sing, Sing, Sing."

Last year's world champion Madison
Scouts finished the 1989 season in

MODERN DRUMMER

■DC\

MUSIC VIDEO

PETER ERSKINE
EVERYTHING IS
TIMEKEEPING

A wealth of ideas and
information plus in¬
credible performances
featuring John Aber¬
crombie and Marc
Johnson. Peter demon¬
strates and discusses
the jazz ride pattern,
ride cymbal technique,
basic jazz indepen¬
dence, improvisation
and composition on the
drumset and more.
Booklet included,

DAVE me KL
THE NEXT STEP

Dave concentrates on
time playing, construc¬
ting a groove, beat
displacement, (playing
backwards), cymbal
technique, phrasing,
creating a drum part,
playing in odd times,
and soloing. This video
also features three
songs from Contem¬
porary Drummer + One,
a latin groove, and
some fantastic solos.

BACK TO BASICS

Dave outlines his
philosophy and techni¬
cal approach to the
drums, covering stick
control, foot technique,
brushes, and in¬
dependence, He also
performs with several
tracks from Contem¬
porary Drummer + One
and plays some ex¬
plosive solos.

TERRY &OIZIO
SOLO DRUMS

Terry presents his
overall approach to the
drum set starting with
an incredible solo that
he breaks down section
by section, explaining
each technique used
He also covers double
bass drumming, hand
technique. 4-way in¬
dependence. and offers
a study of his drum part
for CIS, Drag Booklet
included

STEVE SMITH
PART ONE

Steve describes and
demonstrates methods
for developing time and
meter and his basic ap¬
proach to rock and jazz.
This video also includes
some incredible solos
and performances with
Steve’s group Vital In¬
formation. Best Music In¬
struction Video of 1987
(American Video
Awards). Booklet

included.

PART TWO

An ©xcit i ng foil ow-u p
with invaluable tips on
double bass drumming,
developing creativity,
soloing, and creating a
drum part. This video
includes rare in-concert
footage of Steps
Ahead, plus great per¬
formances by Vital In¬
formation. Booklet
included.

ROD MORGEN5TEIN

PUTTING IT ALL
TOGETHER

Rod discusses how to
develop versatility,
creating a drum pari,
techniques for playing
in odd time signatures,
and his approach to
ghost strokes and dou¬
ble bass drumming.
On-screen graphics
included.

WE SET THE STANDARD.

STEVE GADD

SSSI

STEVE GADD

m session

Presents 90-minutes of
incredible music and
dialogue by Steve Gadd
with Will Lee, Eddie
Gomez, Richard Tee
and the late Jorge
Dalto. This classic
video will give you a
behind-the-scenes look
at masters at work as
they arrange tunes,
work on grooves, and
play funk, latin, reggae,
shuffles, and ballads.

UP CLOSE

Steve discusses his in¬
fluences and demon¬
strates some of the
classic drum parts that
he has played on hit
records like "Fifty Ways
to Leave Your Lover." In
addition to playing
some great solos, Steve
shows how he applies
rudiments to the
drumset and demon¬
strates his bass drum
technique.

VIDEOS

□ PETER ERSKINE, Everything Is Timekeeping

wftooklet (85 min.) $4995

□ DAVE WECKL, Beck to Basics (72 min.) $39 95

□ DAVE WECKL, The Next Step (80 min.) £39,95

□ TERRY 3QZZI0. Soto Drums ^booklet (55 min.) $39.95

□ STEVE SMITH, Part One w/booklei (55 min.) $39.95

□ STEVE SMITH, Perl TWo w/booklet (54 min} $3995

□ ROD MORGENSTEIN, Putting It All Together

(SO min.) $39.95

□ STEVE GADD, In Session (90 min.) £49.95 New Price'

□ STEVE GADD, Up Close [60 min.) $39.95 New Price'

□ Latin American Percussion w/booklet (45 min.) $39.95

□ ZUdjten Day In New York (45 min.) £39.95

□ JOE FRANCO, Double Bass Drumming (52 min.) $39.95

□ KENNY ARONOFF, Laying It Down W/booklei
(60 min.) $39.95

Snare Drum Rudiments w/pamphlet (30 min.) $29.95

□ DAVE SAMUELS, Mallet Keyboard Vol. I

(60 min.) £49.95

□ DAVE SAMUELS, Mallet Keyboard Vol. It

(40 min.) $49.95 Pair: £89.95

AUDIOS

□ DAVE WECKL, Contemporary Drummer + One r 90-min, cassette, 40-page book, charts £32.95

□ ROD MORGENSTEIN (each includes two 60 min cassettes and book)

□ Grooving In Stytes/FItflng In the Holes $24.95 E Odd Times $24,95 □ Double Bess Drumming $24.95 D Alt Three Morgensteln Packages 369,95

□ DANNY GOTTLIEB, Drumming Concepts (two 60 minute audio Japes) $21.95

Make check payable to: DCI MUSIC VIDEO INC, 541 AVENUE OF THE AMERICAS, NY, NY 10011

Add S4.0O postage and handling per order (£5.00 per Bpe outside U,SJ N.Y. State residents add 8 Yj% sales tax. Allow 2-4 weeks delivery. PAL available-add $6.00 per tape.

To oidor by phone: 1 -800-342-4500 Mon.-Sat 1DAM-9PM EST In New York State: (212) 691-1884

Name.

Address.

City.

State_Zlp_

Mastercard /Visa

(circle one) Card#_

. Country.

_ Phone.

VH5.

■ Exp,.

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In Europe: Music Mail Ltd,, 142 Cromwell Rd., London SW7 4EF, England Tel: 01-857-6309
In Canada: Orders must be paid with International Money Order or check drawn on a U S. bank

MD 01/90

Available at your local music dealer. music viDao

seventh place with a score of 93.6 (14.0 in
drums). After opening with "Make His
Praise Glorious," the corps brought back
an old favorite in the form of "Slaughter
On Tenth Avenue." This second piece was
"interrupted" by a drum solo of "Three
Blind Mice." One of their marching
cymbal players even did a cartwheel/
handstand on the field!

Star of Indiana moved up yet another
place in their steady climb upward to
finish in sixth place with a score of 95.3
(14.7 in drums). The corps was sporting a
new all-British image—from their new
uniforms, complete with a plaid sash, to
their music. Their repertoire of Walton's
"Henry V," Hoist's "Song Without Words"
and "Fantasia On The Dargason," and
Walton's "Crown Imperial" brought back
past memories of other corps.

Next up the Cadets of Bergen County
(formerly known as the Garfield Cadets)
took the field to present their production
of the popular musical Les Miserables.
Scoring a 95.6 (14.5 in drums) for fifth
place, the corps covered a wide variety of
musical emotions. A slow-motion fight
scene was one of the visual highlights,
and the keyboards in the pit were kept
busy with constant runs up and down the
instruments. Two different songs resolved
into one finale as the show drew to a
close.

The Blue Devils from Concord,

California scored a 95.9 (14.3 in drums)
for fourth place. Attired in all black and
white, the "Blue Crew" performed their
trademark jazz repertoire, including "Ya
Gotta Try," "If We Were In Love," "Al-
legre," and "Johnny One Note." Their
show opened to a silent drill followed by
a big musical entrance. Despite a few
shaky soprano solos, the corps performed
well. The Blue Devils also had one of the
largest pits, featuring 13 keyboards!

Scoring a 97.2 (14.8 in drums) for third
place were the Cavaliers from Rosemont,
Illinois. John Rutter's "Gloria" opened and
closed the program, framing an original
composition of "Images Diabolique." The
Cavaliers' flashy cymbal line was supple¬
mented by a dozen guard members for a
cymbal "company front" of 20 players!

The Phantom Regiment poured their
heart out into their performance of
Dvorak's New World Symphony entitled
"From The New World...Into A New
Age." Unfortunately, their score of 98.4
(14.4 in drums) was only good enough for
second place. Painting a picture of white
with black accents (and black drums) on
the field, their near-perfect visual program
complemented their music as though it
were choreography. The powerful horn
line's range stretched from strong impacts
to subtle nuances, and the drum line
performed a "music box" rendition of
Dvorak's "Slavonic Dance No. 1." And,

yes, that was the Phantom Regiment
playing a jazz variation complete with
ride cymbals and rimshots!

Following four "bridesmaid" finishes in
second place, this was finally the year for
the Santa Clara Vanguard. Winning the
1989 Summer Music Games with a record
high score of 98.8, they also won "high
drums" with a score of 14.9 (out of 15).
Performing The Phantom Of The Opera
for the second year in a row, the Vanguard
pulled out enough "tricks" (including a
disappearing Phantom and even a
disappearing corps!) to win them the title
for the second time this decade. The entire
corps wore "phantom" masks throughout
the show, and the pit wore decorative
masks in the "Masquerade" movement
(which almost caused them a penalty in
Thursday's prelims). Despite a controversy
involving two overage members (who did
not compete in Kansas City), DCI's newly-
crowned champions were proud of their
victory.

Fans, members, and staff alike are
eagerly looking forward to entering a new
decade of drum corps. The 1990 DCI
Championships will be held in Buffalo,
New York and then move south to Dallas,
Texas in 1991. Happy Marching!

—Lauren Vogel

^ Super Gloss ^
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Dealer inquiries welcomed

Some of the

most enlightening
articles in a
magazine never
make it to the table
of contents;

Open 10 the table of contents
in any publication and you can
► rind some Insightful storiesCiWIl
also find some m issing. Because
rhe advertising isn’t there.

Advertising is important, it's
informative. It Sets you know your
options. And helps you to make
decisions.

Like which car to buy. Which
airline to fly. And what to serve
for dinner.

So, next lime you open a maga¬
zine, read it. From com to cover.

Because what's on the back
cover may be rust as important as
whats on the front.

ADVERTISING.

Without it you wouldn't know.

AAF

MODERN DRUMMER

to GRAND PRIZES 25 FIRST PRIZES

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a hill embroidered fteart logo w the back, the g*j petal atea has a drumset
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100 Second Prize Wioneis will receive tot's new sweai sets Included 300 Third Prize Winners will receive ftearfs new canvas slick bag with

m the sweat set are a parr of Pearl sweat pants, a Pearl sweat shin sfver Pearl logo The u>serior of tors new sock bag remains porkers

and a pair of Nike shoes with tol logo patch lor your lavonre slicks and accessories

To be eligible tor Peart's to End drummer's Sweepstake 09 yea must meet the following simple requirement: You must have purchased any new Pearl

Dfumset HOC EX, WX. WLX, BLX, MX, MIX CZX) of 4 pcs. or more between the dates of 1TT03 to T'&BO, From an authorized Ftearl Dealer laskl . m M

To enter send a copy of your safes receipt Inon returnable! to Pearf International, tor End Drummer's Sweepstaka PO Box l!t240, Nashvilla TN 3722? mm

All enmes most be postmarked by KM). Please include your name aga address, phone I. jacket size, and shoe size Official drawing will be held

? 15 90 Winners will be notified by mail Offer valid m USA only, for a complete list of all contest rules, write to fearl, International Ipiease include S AS EI 11 jt* [jest rww >11 to n

AND NOTABLE

NEW

LUDWIG OFFERS
PRO TRAVELER
VIBE

Ludwig has announced the Musser M-48
Pro Travelers ibraphone, which the
company says they developed with the
working vibraphonist in mind. The M-48,
designed by Musser engineers in collabo¬
ration with vibist Gary Burton, incorpo¬
rates the professional features of Musser's
M-55 Pro Vibe and M-75 Century Vibe
with complete portability for easy
transport, storage, and setup. The M-48
has a range of three octaves (F-3 to F-6)

and is pitched to A=440. (Optional A=442
tuning is also available.) The unit is
constructed with the same wide, gradu¬
ated bars that are standard on the Pro and
Century model vibes. It includes a 115-
volt 6-cycle variable-speed motor as
standard equipment.

The M-48 can be transported in small
vehicles and disassembles into compact,
lightweight sections. Its rails collapse and
fold in half, avoiding extended pieces.
Musser has also developed a crossbar and
damper bar mechanism that separates into
two pieces for easy packing. Since the
bars of the M-55 and M-75 are completely
adaptable to the frame of the M-48,

Musser also offers the Pro Traveler frame
as a separate item. In addition, a light¬
weight case package is available for the
M-48. Ludwig Industries, Inc., P.O. Box
310, Elkhart, IN 46515-0310.

DIXON HI-HAT
HARDWARE

Dixon's PSHX-1 auxiliary hi-hat uses a
regular clutch to hold the top hat, plus a
height/tension-adjustable bottom hat
seat to allow for closed-tension adjust¬
ment from either top down or bottom

up. It also features a geared tilter to
provide more positioning flexibility.

Dixon's PSHK-7D drop clutch consists
of two parts, a "clamp" and a "clutch,"
which fit all central pull rods of any
existing hi-hat stand. The clamp part has a
smooth action spring to release or grab the
clutch. The clamp is pushed down to grab
the clutch for use in an open hat position,
and a light tap of the stick on the clamp
will release the clutch for the closed hat
position. Dixon is distributed exclusively
by: D & H Music, 415 Greenwell Ave.,
Cincinnati, OH 45238-5389, (513)451-
5000, and Scott Music Supply, 2920
Cypress St, West Monroe, LA 71291,
(318)388-2022.

LP MATADOR
WOOD CONGAS
AND LUGGER
BRACKET

LP Music Group has announced its new
line of Mala dor wood congas. The congas
are made from Siam oak, are available in
11", 11 3/4", and 12 1/2" head sizes, and
feature traditional-style rims constructed

MIKE SALTER MALLETS
P.O. Box 531 Northbrook, IL 60065
Phone: (708) 498-4787 FAX: (708) 496*6125

Depot

Keep sticks
out of the way
and right
within reach.

Grab
a stick
quick!

Another innovation from M ®

protnsiA

» Our reputation is in your hands.

The “Stick Depot” holds
drumsticks in perfect
position . . . out of the
way, yet ready when you
need them.

damps easily to a hi -hat
stand, floor tom, cymbal
stand, etc. Right where
you need it

Chrome tubes are easily
adjustable to desired
angle.

See your local dealer or send $8.00 each
to Pro-Mark, 10707 Craighead I)r M Houston,
TX 77025. Send $2 for new color catalog.

MODERN DRUMMER

GIVE THE CHRISTMAS GIFT
THAT LASTS ALL YEAR LONG!

A Christmas gift subscription to
Modern Drummer Magazine is one of
the nicest gifts you can give a drummer.

It’s a year-round reminder of your thoughtful¬
ness. A gift that will be enjoyed and appreci¬
ated long after the others have been stuffed
away in the closet!

It also offers YOU one-stop, hassle-free
shopping. No wrapping, long lines, crowded
stores, or gift cards to buy. We handle it all.
We'll even mail a gift card to that special
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You can use your credit card, or we can bill
you later if you prefer. For faster service, call
Toll Free: 1-800-435-0715.

Bring Christmas joy to a drummer
friend or relative every month through¬
out the year, with a gift subscription
to the world's leading drum maga¬
zine. They’ll think of you all year
through—and love you for it!

Please send a One Year gifi subscription at $25.05 for 12 monthly issues. Send a Two Year gift for only $46.95.

Payment enclosed 1 I

Bill Me EH

Master Card \~\

Visa EH

1 Year i

2 Years EH

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Exp. Date

Send Gift To:

Gift front:

Name

Address

Citv. Slate, Zip

Citv. Slate. Zip

Rales good in U..S., Canada, and Mexico. For foreign delivery send $31.95 lor one year. $52.95 for two years (U.S. Currency only). Add an
additional $65.00 per year for air mail

from heavy-gauge steel.

Also new from LP is their Lugger
Bracket, which mounts cowbells, wood¬
blocks, and other percussion instruments
directly onto the tuning screws of tim¬
bales, set drums, or marching drums. The
bracket is made from heavy-gauge,
chrome-plated steel, and comes with a
3/8"-thick steel rod that is adjustable to 9".
Latin Percussion, Inc., 160 Belmont Ave.,
Garfield, NJ 07026.

ZILDJIAN SCIMITAR
BRONZE CYMBALS

Labor of Love

Send /offree coufse catalog .

Percussion Institute of Technology

Musicians Institute 1655 McCadden Place. Box 474
Hollywood, CA 90028 . <213} 462-1384

Zildjian has launched a new line of
cymbals called Scimitar Bronze, which,
according to the company, are profes¬
sional-quality sheet bronze cymbals that
are affordable even to the entry-level
drummer. Models available in this range
include 18" and 20" rides, 16" and 18"
crashes, 14" hi-hats, and an 18" China. A
factory pre-selected Scimitar Bronze
cymbal setup consisting of a 20" ride, a
16" crash, and 14" hi-hats is also available
in a newly designed carrying pack.

Zildjian says that the Scimitar Bronze
range features new profiles and combina¬
tions of hammering that produces cymbals
with fast response and quick decay and
with colorful yet clean overtones.

Zildjian has also announced that its
most recent ad campaign is now available
in poster form. Under the theme "More Of
The World's Great Drummers Play
Zildjians Than All Other Cymbals
Combined," the campaign features top
Zildjian artists involved in activities other
than playing drums, from various sports
activities to just reading to "hanging out."
Avedis Zildjian Company, 22 Longwater
Dr., Norwell, MA 02061.

PURECUSSION

MUFF'IT

PureCussion's Muff'it drum mufflers are
made from a closed-cell foam material
featuring a unique non-curing adhesive
backing that lets drummers experiment
with placement for desired sound. In
addition to being sold separately, Muff'its
are also now being installed on PureCus-
sion drumsets as standard equipment.
According to the company, small patches
of the Muff'it material, easily trimmed
from strips, also work on cowbells,
cymbals, and other percussion instru¬
ments. Five 15" strips are furnished in the
bass drum package, which allows full-
perimeter coverage of up to 24" bass
drums. Ten narrower 15" strips make up
the tom package and effectively mute all
the toms in a typical five-piece kit.
PureCussion, Inc., 5957 West 37th St.,
Minneapolis, MN 55416.

NEW YAMAHA
BRASS SNARE
DRUM AND STICKS

Yamaha has announced its newest snare
drum, the 5 1/2" brass shell model SD 495.
The company describes the drum as an
all-purpose snare, ideal for jazz, rock, and
recording applications. It features ten lugs,
Yamaha Power Hoops, and Yamaha's
standard strainer, adjustable from both
sides.

MODERN DRUMMER

Yamaha has also announced the
introduction of four new drumstick
models. Featuring a full radius cut on the
butt end of the stick, all models are made
from select hickory. Of the new models,
the R3, R4, and R5 models have rounded
beads to improve cymbal articulation. The
fourth model is the 77, which sports an
"acorn"-style bead on a longer stick.
Yamaha Corp, of America, 6600
Orangethorpe Ave., Buena Park, CA
90620.

AC-CETERA

FLEX-EZE

Ac-cetera, Inc. has introduced Flex-eze
into its Mic-eze product line. Flex-eze is
composed of a 3" or 5" section of flexible
pipe, with clamps on either end—one for
holding a mic', the other attaching to
drums, stands, or other hardware. Ac-
cetera, P.O. Box 8070, Pittsburgh, PA
15216,1-800-537-3491.

NEW HQ

SOUNDOFF DISCS

HQ Percussion Products has added to
their line of SdurCf Silencing Discs. In
addition to being available in all drum
sizes from 6" to 18", there are now
SoundOffs for hi-hats and ride and crash
cymbals. The model for hi-hats consists of
two pieces and works on cymbals from
13" to 15". The ride/crash model is one
piece and works on cymbals from 16" to
22". According to the manufacturers, like
the original SoundOffs, these new cymbal
models significantly reduce volume, have
excellent stick response, and are reasona¬
bly priced. HQ Percussion Products, P.O.
Box 430065, St. Louis, MO 63143, (314)
647-9009.

CARMINE APPICE
POWER ROCK
DRUM SYSTEM

Warner Bros. Publications recently
announced distribution of the Carmine
Appice Power Rock Drum System.
Containing five audio tapes and instruc¬
tion booklets, this step-by-step system is
for all levels of experience, from beginners
to advanced. Each lesson is taught on
cassette and then explained in a matching
instruction booklet, which is filled with
heavy rock beats, patterns, and exercises.
The System is based on Appice's book
Realistic Rock.

Warner Bros. Publications also distrib¬
utes Rudiments To Rock, which teaches
the novice percussionist basic fundamen¬

tals, as well as the difficult beats of today's
rock 'n' roll. Appice's Updated Realistic
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contains photos, a discography, a sound-
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Warner Bros. Publications, 265 Secaucus
Road, Secaucus, NJ 07094, (201) 348-
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clinician in Los Angeles. He also hosts a

On this great video. Peter explains and demonstrates what he feels are the most
important areas for a drummer to focus on.

He covers his philosophy of the jazz ride pattern, ride cymbal technique, indepen¬
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a fantastic trio including John Abercrombie and Marc Johnson, (Booklet Included).

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Bruel & Kjaer has recently introduced a
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The 4012 is finished in anodized matt
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R£A DERS ' FL A TFORM continued from 6

the good work!

John Perry Penn
Houma LA

RESPONSE FROM FRANK

I am writing in response to Randy Bradley's
letter in the October Readers' Platform.
Maybe I can offer some observations from
someone who has "been there."

First of all, Randy, it is obvious that your
frustrations have been building up for quite
some time. Are the other musicians in your
band aware that there is a problem? Have
you tried approaching them in a mature
and reasonable manner? They are people,
too. If they care about you, your feelings,
and your input, they'll respond. Remember
the old saying: "If you are not part of the
solution, you're part of the problem."

Secondly, have you tried to "punch
it...kick it...speed up...lay back...etc." when
they asked you to? Sometimes other play¬
ers have good ideas, but as non-drummers
they have trouble communicating those
ideas in drumming terms. Think about it. If
their suggestions seem endless, maybe it's
because they're uncomfortable with the feel
but can't explain why. Go back to the rec¬
ords and check the feel and the sound. Go
back into the practice room and check your
time.

While I'm sure you'll find most drum¬
mers to be sympathetic, you are essentially
spitting into the wind when you air your
complaints in Modern Drummer. Maybe
your comments would have a better effect
on the pages of Guitar Player, Keyboard, or
Musician, since it is with musicians other
than drummers that you have those com¬
plaints.

All in all, while you must accept the
limitations of a "Holiday Inn-type" gig, I
can say from experience that there is no
need to bore yourself cranking out record
copies. If you are bored, you will look and
sound bored. Sincerity is the key. People
will respond to a sincere attempt to reach
them—whether they are the other mem¬
bers of your band or the members of your
audience. Good luck.

Frank Dickinson
Stony Point NY

ddrum

THE WORLD LEADER
IN DIGITAL SAMPLING
25 Linde man Drive
Trumbull, CT 06611

(203) 374-0020

What does a
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BRADY DRUMS

104

MODERN DRUMMER

KEEP UP WITH THE TIMES!

The Modem Drummer
Library presents:

i---n

| ONLY |

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I Please send me _ copies of

| THE ELECTRONIC DRUMMER j

I EH Payment enclosed

I Name_|

! Address _.

I City_I

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Make checks payable and mail to:

Hal Leonard Publications
P.O. Box 13819
Milwaukee, Wl 53213

Do not send cash U S. Funds onEy
Please allow 6 to 8 weeks for delivery. MOD-i 5 *

ELECTRONIC DRUMMER

BY NORMAN WEINBERG

Basic: sound reinforcement of
acoustic drums to complete
electronic/Mini setup* for
today's drummer

Mooenn

OH U111 Ill f?R Publications, Inc.

ELECTRONIC

DRUMMER

BY NORMAN WEINBERG

All of the information today's
drummer needs to know about:

>• ACOUSTIC AND ELECTRONIC SOUND
^ DRUM MACHINES
^ MIDI
» SAMPLING
^ TRIGGERING
»■ ELECTRONIC DRUMKITS
^ COMPUTERS
^ SOUND REINFORCEMENT
^ COMPLETE ELECTRONIC SETUPS

From simple, basic uses of electronics
to complex, total electronic setups,

THE ELECTRONIC DRUMMER will tell you

what you need to know—in straight¬
forward, "user-friendly" language.

D 1

R U M 1

L 1

1 N 1

Send quick, proven tips that have saved you time, money, or effort to Drumline, do Modem Drummer, 870 Pompton Avenue, Cedar Grove, NJ
07009. Items can range from equipment maintenance, repair, or design tips to valid practice and playing ideas. Please keep your tip to 150 words
or less, and be sure to include your name and address. We will pay $15.00 for every tip we publish.

MICROPHONE HOLDERS

I'd been experimenting with miking my set,
and had a problem: Though I had several
cymbal stands, I had no mic' stands. My
solution was to take a piece of 5/8" pipe
(from one old mic' stand) and cut it into 1"
sections. I soldered a wing nut onto the
bottom of each section and threaded the
top of each section to fit my mic' holders. I
then installed these "adaptors" on my extra
cymbal stands to create temporary mic'
stands. Though they are somewhat un¬
sightly, they are cheap and effective, and
ought to last long enough for me to replace
them with the "real thing."

Derek Sharp

Pittsburg KS

MOUNTING SMALL CYMBALS

I'd like to pass along an idea I had for
adding small cymbals to my kit. I wanted
to add a small Ice Bell, but did not want to
use a separate stand for it. I first mounted
the bell on a stand atop another cymbal.
This provided some interesting tonal vari¬
ations. But then the light came on! I used a
spare hi-hat clutch to mount the Ice Bell on
the hi-hat rod over my primary hi-hat cym¬
bals. I compensated for the added weight
by adjusting the spring tension on the hi-
hat. Using this mounting method places an
alternate sound source in close proximity
to my hi-hat stick(s).

Steven Klinck
Madison TN

REPAIRING PITTED HEADS

As we all know, it's next to impossible to
get a pure tone from a severely dented
head. Years ago I discovered a method for
"repairing" pits and dents in heads without
having to remove them from the drum.
Granted, I've found this repair method to
be of limited use on two-ply heads (Evans
Hydraulic, Remo Pinstripe, etc.), but it
greatly extends the life of single-ply Am-

DRUMMERS! DRUM RECOVERING KITS
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bassador-type heads. All you need is a dis¬
posable butane lighter (Bic, Cricket, etc.).
Other sources of flame will work, but I've
found that disposable lighters work best.
Adjust your lighter to a medium-low flame,
and then wave it from side to side on the
drumhead where the dent is located. Make
sure that only the heat from the flame
touches the head! The idea is to heat the
Mylar, which returns to its original shape.
(Apparently, it's a plastic with a "memory.")
Note: Remember to wave the lighter! If the
flame is left stationary, your head will
bubble, melt, and burn (in that order)!

Elliot Pietri
Yauco, Puerto Rico

PREVENTING BASS DRUM CREEP

A serious and annoying bass drum prob¬
lem can be remedied for less money than it
costs to buy a pair of brushes. The problem
is bass drum creep; you know you have it
when your drum has worked its way four
feet in front of the singer! The remedy is:
cello stops. These are light (but very dense)
rubber doughnut-shaped disks meant to
support cellos. Place one under each spur
and your bass drum won't budge on waxed
floors or linoleum, and you won't tear car¬
peting (making you very popular with em¬
ployers). These 3 1/2" wonders have the trade
name of Rock Stops and are available in
most full-line music stores at a cost of $7.50
or so each. For thicker spurs, you might be
better advised to purchase the bass viol
model with a larger holding cup. I find that
a pair lasts me about five years. Throw
away your chains, bricks, anchors, and
carpets; these work!

Cary Nasatir
Castro Valley CA

EMERGENCY DRUMHEAD CHANGE

For those of you who do not have a second
snare drum on your gig, or who cannot
afford the time to replace a broken snare
head in the middle of a set, purchase a
Remo 15" PTS Ambassador Bright head. If
your regular snare batter head breaks, just
rip out the remaining plastic and slap the
15" PTS head over the still-attached 14"
snare drum rim. Secure it with a few pieces
of gaffer's (duct) tape, and you're up and
playing in 60 seconds!

George Lawrence
Jackson MS

HI-HAT WEIGHT

I recently bought a twin bass drum pedal. I
found it a problem to play double bass

with a tight hi-hat. I know I could have
bought a drop-lock clutch, but I'm only 15,
and money is tight. So I went down in the
basement and dug up a piece of metal
about the size of a large felt cymbal washer.

I painted it chrome so it would look good,
and put it on top of the cymbal washer of
the top hi-hat. It added some weight, so
that when I release the top cymbal it sits
more heavily on the bottom one, giving me
a tighter closed hi-hat sound. I was lucky
to find this particular piece of metal, but a
collar from a barbell works the same.

Marc Giordano
Chester NY

ELIMINATING SPEED KING SQUEAKS

I've received many compliments regarding
the action and—believe it or not—lack of
squeaks from my Speed King pedals. I'd
like to pass on what works for me, and will
work for anyone else on any Speed King.
At either side of the axle where it meets the
yoke, spray a little WD40 —just enough to
get the spot thoroughly drenched. Next, at
the same points, add one or two drops of
Three-In-One oil. This will keep the bear¬
ings well-lubricated. Next, at the point
where the footplate connects to the pedal
(which is where I think the real problem
lies), apply a generous amount of Vaseline
or other petroleum jelly. With a Speed King,
when pushing the pedal you are actually
grinding metal against metal at this linkage
point. But this can work in your favor when
you use the Vaseline, because it's also being
rubbed into the metal at the same time.
After just a couple of applications your
pedal will be squeakless! The Vaseline pro¬
tects the metal, lubricates the points of
stress, and kills the squeak.

Butch Melton
Indianapolis IN

No/e: The tips presented in Drumline are
suggestions based on the personal experi¬
ence of individual drummers, and are not
necessarily endorsed or recommended by
Modern Drummer Magazine. Modern
Drummer cannot guarantee that any prob-
lem will be solved by any Drumline sug¬
gestion, and cannot be responsible for any
damage to equipment or personal injury
resulting from the utilization of any such
suggestion. Readers are encouraged to
consider each suggestion carefully before
attempting to utilize any Drumline tip.

BRADY DRUMS

MODERN DRUMMER

1 r fwPrla

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DRUM MARKET

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month two months proceeding on-sale date. Ads received after the deadline will be held for the next issue unless otherwise
specified. All ads must be paid in full in advance. Mail ads to: MD c/o Drum Market. 870 Pompton Ave. P Cedar Grove. NJ

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FREE fly^r. Waddell^ Drum Cfiniw, PO Bn-y HKi.
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Box 247 -LA 0 Nanuet, NY 1 OTSM .247

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to e<e^Le hip Ti lit ^rid groovet’ CurntrHly Lioun^, ci^-
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fiTAGCt ecc^'nij Mr CCWl Tli!«unli SubhmllMf ltd in
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DRAMATICALLY IMPROVED DRUMMING WITHIN
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ADVANCED JTtCK AEROBICS—For (he DRUMMER
(.'I ihr- Wnrkuut wur WEAKER HAS I ? lie ild v J
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Send ffiJjS plus Su.OQ lar stipplemcntarv cassolH.- bo:
K| N Cf 3 =X, P.L 3 ET( >K ^ 54 . .AC']( JURA HI LI S.. CA ^ 13 (H . |

108

MODERN DRUMMER

A flfivltimif Auyr«uic h In SliL-liin^ i-. .1 iiiv. m^lhunf oi
develop) hr bawl lI^vJ load patlpfris Uung iVn- 7 I v^it
rhythms. p^iFliirns are ihen cnealed l>V pUynn^, 1, 2„ .i
.mil 4 rhythmi mhui! ldn^ ilitI■,, Uw Ihi* %X>ok lo r Rudi'
menial Development,. Drumset Patterns,. Swiich Hil-
cf^ OouWr B*h Iti-Jini^mf, Hand Tn foal Ltuvrdina-
liim, Thfff-W.iv f acirrliiurmn. Lgur-Wai CoOfdin.il'itNi.

PPP 19.2D. I>; Studia. b-iin Brant* Prfce. Hub*
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- DRlMM* RS AMP INSTRUCTORS—

AN IN-PE ?TH tJG HlN. VtDEO ANAIYZING ANTlCl-
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SPECIALISING iN ODD TIME SIGNATURES, NEXT DAV
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iFurls... YOU rhi 1 drummer. PFih Slurlm Session

Packflgc yTM a rrf^ii jhjdio CK|Wrmce .f,-. i.> L-*S-

nL'flrt give ytnj yivx-r 100 Irt-inyJr.H. trf I lie vciy .ilf^
FunVRcx:k mu*k wllh .hid v\ r^jni drum tras k\! £ JI .fli
plu.H |1 50 lor 5&l- io PERCUSSION LXPRESS. RO
I3r>ic 17;M r RixIffeffdL II 61110. Write Or call icFriur free
I Jl.ikiK (fii5l%Ml47

INSTRUCTION

BOblON AttbA: StudlCr Llm. utkjiiy Ktjrsfihjpe S^pjd^ And
(Ju nev i lome Lessons Available- We teach All Slvtes,
Al In. civ Tes l-nmll ( dll ■ir WVjN> F«r Rnrj-hu T" I birr -
£40 UtUTI School, 1 2 Godidrd SlrisK, Suite fll, Qliai Iiiv.
MAD3IW Ttf. IfctJ) 77&1&37.

SCHOOL FOR MUSICAL PIRfORMANO. $pte.oliE-
^ in PeJTUShiC^i: iWrwl, Vl3nr.itjFrt.ini,.' .3rt{J VLir mSj.i
i mallet technique Hnvof iflairutuoii lur ALL iruiru-
nx«|j. Voice, Theory and song^oliii^ Musical threc-
lor. IJ..IV d KOv^rtA, H A . M.A . M 5.M 9ltJ K|ftj0 Hi K h-
wav, &uoJfclyrr MV 11.123 71 ftl MU 19m.

pial-A-Rrat by peff IndyRe. OH TSI6I For

Kicking Drum Hlik uVw I hur jihtii1i.'l lnrw?vjhvi?

wav to tea-m. Cali' Nto*d! H 14oufa M

flallu. Grjjil MrjnOlGK SludiO cd Drumm-n^. H-.M. dtrkk-!
College ejl Music, Towson Slate Uolws4v Irw&uctor.
Dhjfn* HGcoWWl. CSOni 747 STIX.

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WANTED

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ddmm

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Digital drums never felt so good
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friimbulf, CT 06611

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VATER

PERCUSSION

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MODERN DRUMMER

109

next month in FEBRUARY'S

MODERN DRUMMER...

CHARLIE

WATTS

FREDERICK

WAITS

Plus:

•DEEN CASTRONOVO

• FESTIVAL'89 PICTORIAL

and Columns by: • Jonathan Mover

• Colin Bailey

• Anthony Cirone

and much more., .don't miss it!

ADVERTISER'S

INDEX

ABK Rocks.

Aquarian Accessories.

Mike Balter Mallets

Sam Barnard .

Berklee College of Music ....
Brady Snare Drums .

Calato/Regal Tip .&.

CMP Records.

Corder Drum Company.

DC 1000 ..

DCI Video.-.

ddrum.. .

Drum Doctors

Drummers Collective

Drum School I .

Drums on Sale.

Drumstix .

Drum Workshop.

Dauz Designs

Empire Group -.

Evans Products..

Explorers Percussion.

GC Music .

Gretsch .........

Hart Systems, Inc..

Joe Pet ..

Kaman Music Distributors.

Latin Percussion, Inc..

Long Island Drum Center
Ludwig Industries ..

M&K Productions

Mapex Percussion ..

MD Library .

Metalmorphosis/Bobby Rock

Monad Publishing .. .

Music Source International .
Musician's Institute .

103
.52

. 96

. 94

.. 100

104,106,109

. 58

. 57

109

. 73,93,99

.. .. 52-109

21
89
• 86

. - - . 39

. 40

1,36,72

..... 56

.74

.56,63

. 109

. 61

Inside Back Cover

. 104

. 57

. 85

101,Inside Front Cover

. 59

. 11

. 105

. 102

. 71

. 104

Noble & Cooley - . 90

Paiste... 37

Pearl International . 16/17,59,66,95

Percussion Paradise 103

Precision Drum Co. -.-63

Premier Percussion USA .5

Pro Mark. 44,70,96

PureCussion. . ... 13,15

Remo . 71,84,92

Resurrection Drums. 104

RimSHOT America. .. 92

Royce Percussion 94

Sabian.54/55,81

Sam Ash Music Stores. 72

Sapphire Percussions 88

Shark Byte Engineering .88

Shure Brothers . 41

Solid Percussion, Inc . 107

Sonor Percussion .. , . 9

Tama .7,75,82,111

Thank-you from Carl Palmer . 91

Thoroughbred Music . 53

Tropical Productions.109

Vater Percussion . 70,109

Vic Firth, Inc. . 36,52,87

Waddell's Cymbal Warehouse .109

Glenn Weber Drum Studio . 109

The Woodwind & The Brasswind .74

Yamaha . 6,67,69

Zildjian . .. 45,47,49,Outside Back Cover

MODERN DRUMMER

When iI comes to
drum hardware 1 , no ^
one has been more
innovative than lama,.,
the first heavy duty hard¬
ware,! he first; (double braced
stands, the first boom stands,
the first multi-clamp systems,
the first non-mar nylon bush¬
ings and now,..Titan Stilt,

A straight stand is one of the
drummer's most used tools^^
but it can he a placement
headache. The Tama Stilt

System was developed to over¬
come tile limitations of the ordinary
straight stand. Stilt's simple yet effec¬
tive tilling capabilities fill the void that
existed between straight and Itoom
stands,,,and at the cost of a straight
stand.

This Si ill tilling feature lias been
incorporated into the entire line of
our ullra-heaw duty Titan stands
yielding a totalis vmit|ue look. But we
haven’t forgot tint what has a I wavs
been the most important Tania
feature—strength. A totally rede¬

signed die-rns! tripod joint makes our
Titan line stronger than ever.

Titan Stilt. ..New Style.. .New
Strength...with all I lie quality you
expect fr om lama.

I^Mriov

5r9 mWm^IAA/lA

I ni I'm I mlhrmnliim on TAM \ Ihinhvim 1 ptrti*<>
vMiu- n>; riiiia, n.‘pt. Mi)L>m. m n»\ mi. Hen-
Siili'iii. V\ 11)020 * JJ1 I'nidiinr Wav. I’oitmnn. C\

amis-vuii - m 2000. laiiim Mill*. in si my ■

In (Imnda: 2 Hi t 14 a I h \w , I .admit'. yiirlH'f. t aiiadn
IIS 121*1.

> P6&fo (fatten^

/ttex *Vcui Staled’

working- u \n sp T vl to te, ftna

"^Ssss-bs:
sass^srn—*

iir TYve

*"•***%*

needS mveev«>

^rejection is*

and P ut

fia^SiS;

, , lro m Greisch drums

11 g^ rC T rec0 rd\ng

‘JWjSSS-

* Wif

;n MV— , Siam

•£ZZ«e*"*

_ P excising
*n tne ^ ^(ore

Rf/SC/Z

1 ®

Someday, you’ll own Gretsefi.

lGretschPlaza-Ri^^mr^^^9^^8(B^2^^^^^^86^HGn^>^^^mJ

Z. Zildjians. Without them, today's music would be without
much of its edge.

They are a totally new design in cymbals created spe¬
cifically to cut through even megawatt amplification.
Cymbals like Dy no-beat HiHats and Heavy Power
Rides have simply become standard equipment
for contemporary heavy rock drummers.
Today's rock and roll calls for cymbals with
% quick response, explosive volume poten-

| tial, a nd powerfu 1 projection. Wh ich led

us to combine the Zildjian alloy with
|h innovative computer hammering tech¬
niques, to create an unlathed, heavier,
and just plain louder series of cymbals.
Cymbals with their own distinctive rock-
11 musicality that sound great and hold up
L/ under even the heaviest of techniq ues.
Along with K'sand A's, Z. Zildjians are
in the kits of such leading rock drummers
as Tommy Aldridge, Gregg Bissonette, Joey
Kramer, Randy Castillo, Rikki Rockett, and Fred
Couiy. ..and should likely be in yours as wel 1.

The Z's. One more reason that more of the
world's great drummers play /

Zildjians than all other —i f-V ^
cymbals combined. f I Ail x

The Only Serious Choke.

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